Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Thirteen Parsecs: Beyond the Solar Frontier Rpg By Jason Vey & The Arduin Grimoire rpg - All That Glitters Is Not Gold

 Tonight's Thirteen Parsecs Beyond The Solar Frontier game found our party examining the treasure that they liberated from the Mi Go. Things were not as they appeared when one of the coins embedded and then sun into the skin of one of the party members instantly killing him. He did not make his saving throw. 

The party had liberated the treasure from last game session but things took a dark turn when one of the party members decided to examine one of the gold coins that made up the treasure. The coin they chose was an Arduin Alchemically prepared coin and it was definitely poisoned. This session picks right up from the July Seventh session on the blog here. 

The Doomguards were deactivated by a strange jewel one of the PC's found. The treasure was booby trapped the party expected that. However part of the treasure was alive and moving when no one was looking at it. The party soon learned that the treasure was once an offering to the 'King in Yellow'. And though it pained them to leave it behind. They did. Half of the treasure was 'gold bugs' ala the classic AD&D Fiend Folio First Edition entry. 

This is already the second time that they have had a treasure that they've had to leave behind. However they came away with other trade goods, relics, and some other magic items. This includes a map and several magic scrolls of the Mi Go along with several potions also belonging to the Mi Go. These covered the party's expenses and they've gotten a new craft of their own. Back at the interstellar port they were able to get a line on a small cargo haul to pay the rest of their bills. 



Monday, July 28, 2025

Down & Out In The Wretched Country & The Gunslinger rpg - OSR Campaign Commentary

  When it comes to our  Wretched Old West campaign things have slowed to a crawl. So I've been rethinking the weirder/horror aspect of this campaign after reading Lord Matteus's Creating a Wild West campaign blog article. 



 I agree with most of what he said and the OSR resources that were sited. However I really love Thomas Denmark's Gunslinger rpg because it really brings home the 'Weird Old West' vibe in spades. Everything from ancient American Indian magic items, gods, etc. and then there's the classic OD&D monster analogies. 



  Gunslinger rpg is a great addition with Wretched Folklore: Enhanced Edition which updates the monsters, rules, etc. so that we get a complete supernatural picture of the Old West weirdness & occult horror. 


Wretched Folklore Enhanced has some great abstract Shou- Lin Martial Arts rpg system rules & works very well to bring that 70's Old West rpg film feel. This means that you can add temples, do joes, and more to your 1900's game campaigns. 
This same goes for the American Indian Shamanism within the Wretched Folklore supplement. This gets deep into dealing with the Beyond and it's relationship with this Shamanism. 
We get a deep dive into creating Steampunk contraptions and devices. This dovetails right into the PC's Engineer Super Science  rules with the Gunslinger rpg. These contraptions could be employed by mad scientists during the American Civil War. These are only going be one of horrors that could be added into the free Wretched Dixie campaign setting. Some of these contraptions could have slipped into the Beyond only  to be waiting to be unleashed again. 



 These horrors could then be uncovered in the Old West as Civil War veterans become desperate to resurrect an army. These events can coincide with RPG Pundit's The Pundit Files 25 provides a comprehensive timeline for events occurring in the wild west. The Old West is going to be 100% ground zero for the supernatural and occult events. 



Thursday, July 24, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary On Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide By James & Joey Moran Mishler For The Shadowdark rpg & Especially Castles & Crusades rpg

Rabalinn on the Rime River

Book I: Player's Guide
Designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG
By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

The Rabalinn on the Rime River Player's Guide is the first fully detailed player' guide for the Talismundia Campaign Setting.

The materials presented in this booklet present two new classes, 20 new spells, new patrons for warlocks and witches, and a complete pantheon for the Borean peoples of Talismundia.

This supplement is designed to provide information for developing player characters for a campaign set in the world of Talismundia, particularly in the lands of the Ice-Witch Wastes, Rime River Marshes, Reotan Forest, and Icy Sea of Region 01: The Cold Steppes.

Designed for use with Shadowdark, easily adaptable to any other classic style OSR Role-Playing Game."


This review is going to pick up from previous reviews on this blog here.  
 
The  Talismundia Region campaign by James Mishler games just got a major update with the Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide. There was a huge info and game dump with the following: 

The Rabalinn on the Rime River Player's Guide includes:
Details on the Peoples of the Cold North
Frostblod Warlock Class
Ice Witch Class
Ice Witch Mishap Tables
Ice Witch Spells  four spells each for five tiers
Rimelords, including Ahti and Vellamo (Lawful, Borean), Louhi (Chaotic, Borean), Rlim Shaikorth (Chaotic, Outsider), Skadi (Neutral, Auroran), and Ymir (Chaotic, Auroran)
Rimelord Boons
Borean Gods
Borean Afterlife
Information Tables for the Borean, Auroran, Drakgudar, Hesperian, Holy Church of Law and Temple of Evil Chaos, Tenebrian, and Vesperian Pantheons

Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide By James & Joey Moran Mishler adds a whole other aspect to the Rabalinn on the Rime River campaign with brand new classes, aspects on ice and regular magic, new gods, aspects of Chaos and Law plush much more. This all comes in with forty pages of new material with a well edited, laid out, and given set of features. 
However given the amount of material here, there's another OSR role playing game that 
the Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide could easily work with. And that's Castles & Crusades! There's more then enough material here to easily expand anyone's C&C campaign. There's gods, monsters, new classes, and more. 


 Why the  Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide works well with Castles & Crusades is because the Shadowdark and the C&C systems are easily crosscompitable enabling the C&C DM to get the best bang for their dollar..  There more then enough within the the Talismundia Region as a campaign to have a group of players going for years. Talismundia is a campaign setting is open enough to allow a DM to add their own spin on adventures and the campaign setting without getting bogged down in too much detail. 
And this is one of the strengths of James Mishler's design work and writing. He knows how to present a product with enough too get the DM started without drowning him or her in the morass finer detail and points. 
Is the  Talismundia Region 01: Rabalinn on the Rime River Book I: Player's Guide worth the price of admission?! In a word yes! This is especially true of the great material that's been made avaiable in this latest Talismundia product!  

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

OSR Commentary The Free Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands Updated & Campaign Info For The Barrows & Borderlands Rpg

 "A collection of Play-Test, Teaser, and Free rulings, Classes, Items, and more for the Barrows & Borderlands TTRPG! This is a living document that will be added to as time goes on!"



Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands has been updated in a major way & allowed to show it's Science Fantasy underpinnings. This means that our B&B game campaign is being updated. Barrows and Borderlands with a 1970s with a cracked‘reactor glow in the wasteland with : flintlocks bark alongside longswords, spell scrolls fizz with fallout, and wyrms coil around dead reactors. Radioactive Boogaloo updates adds in new classes, mutations, and more adding in more of the post apocalyptic wasteland vibe to the game. 


Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands has a brand new seventy two pages of rpg optional systems and more to the game. It still has the old school feel to it and now has a more classic Science Fantasy vibe to Barrows and Borderlands rpg. This means that even though this is an OSR style game it's squarely within the post apocalyptic realm of gaming. Mathew Tapp and co have actively continued to expand their coverage of The Barrows & Borderlands rpg. 

Thursday, July 17, 2025

OSR Commentary On SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide: The Roleplaying Game & Nightshift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars rpg - Campaign Update

Created by Eric Bloat & Josh Palmer, SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide is a standalone roleplaying game and does not require any additional gaming material to play. However, as part of the SURVIVE THIS!! game line, What Shadows Hide is 100% fully compatible with SURVIVE THIS!! ZOMBIES!, DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS, VIGILANTE CITY, and SURVIVE THIS!! FANTASY, We Die Young, and can be used to mix and match to create your own custom play experiences."



SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide: The Roleplaying Game hasn't closed my desk for a while. This game came back on my radar because of DM Bloodworth's video on this game. He's mentioned the fact that you can crossover ANY of the Bloat Games rpg's. Now in the last campaign incarnation of how my group had gotten into Survive This! What Shadows Hide in a combination game with Nightshift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars rpg. The powers and factions within Survive This! What Shadows Hide rpg were going to war. The conflict starts to boiling over into the cities of Man. 

The corruption of the night is spreading across the cities of Man. You are the only thing that stands in the way as the hills run wild with cults and heinous crimes. This allows the DM to leverage the Cthulhu mythos and horrors of the night. 
And then the campaign fell apart because of tragic events in two of my player's lives. Two years later I'm left with a ton of notes on adventures ready to go. 
The adventures I had written have an escalation of the factions and powers of the  'What Shadows Hide' and this goes back to events within Seattle. 
 There was a vampire & werewolves war back in 90's. This conflict extends into present day! 



The systems are easily cross compatible & they play well with others. The O.G.R.E. rpg system works very well and can easily be swapped out. The whole cloth rpg of both rpg games works very well. 




Tuesday, July 15, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary On Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault For The Amazing Adventures rpg

 "Somewhere, sometime in the future, catastrophe has come to earth'

"Leap from your bunker with what supplies you can carry strapped to your back, stuffed in your pockets, or carried in your bare hands, because the world's end has come to your door. One resounding explosion has cut the water to your little world and catastrophe looms. The walls you built no longer matter, the food you've rationed, though it too has almost run its course, will do nothing for the water you need. No. The only hope for survival lies beyond the steel door of your home turned trap. And beyond that door the ratta-tat-tat of machine gun fire and small explosions creep ever closer."


Get up and move, or spend your last few days with bloated tongue and madness. Enter now the Free Fire Zone, and know, that here, everyone is a target."

I had zero intention of grabbing  Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault but my players convinced me. This is a first level rpg adventure for the Amazing Adventures rpg & it's a damn good one as well! Like I said my players are the ones who wanted me to grab AA's Free Fire Zone because they want me to run it! 
What is is Free Fire Zone?! Well it's the end of the world in no uncertain terms and your PC's are in the middle of it! Even though this is a first level adventure  it's written by 
 Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault which means that this adventure can and should be crossed over with Castles and Crusades. More then that  Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone  provides an adventure frame work so that you as the DM can get your campaigns off the ground with a running start! The AA PC's can shine like their supposed to with real stakes of life and death running in the background. Everything talked about in the Amazing Adventure's Player's Handbook is put into practice. 


Is A
mazing Adventures Free Fire Zone any good?! In a word, yes. Because it provides a working and breathing campaign setting adventure and framework to get your own Amazing Adventures campaign off the ground. It does this by putting the PC's in harm's way and then having them deal with the aftermath in two ways. Through the encounters and through the actual play with little issue. This adventure is a nice set up for a full blown campaign with little issue. 


Sunday, July 13, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary On Covert: Espionage in Clement Sector By John Watts For the Clement Sector rpg, Earth Sector rpg, & Any 2d6 Classic Science Fiction rpg

 "Espionage is the practice of secretly gathering information about governments, military operations, industries or individuals for strategic advantage. This practice is as old as civilization itself, shaping the course of wars, diplomacy, and economic competition. The fundamental goal of espionage is to obtain knowledge that others wish to conceal and allow those who possess this knowledge to make informed decisions, anticipate threats, and manipulate events to their advantage."  




Covert: Espionage in Clement Sector By John Watts For the Clement Sector rpg, Earth Sector rpg, Or  Any 2d6 Classic Science Fiction rpg. This  is the  latest supplement for the Clement Sector rpg all of this happens to be packed into the world of Espionage on fringes of Clementt Sector. This Western themed 2d6 Science Fiction is a seething cauldron of plots, counter plots, and both interstellar or Corporate intrigue. And your PC's are in the middle of a whirl wind of plots, counter plots, and the deadly business of espionage. 
We get an introduction and history of the trade of espionage. This supplement goes deep and sets up the history, setting, and more into the Clement Sector rpg campaign setting. There's a ton of history, factions, organizations, governments, and more all willing to hire adventurers and operatives. 



 The Clement Sector Third Edition rpg is one of the most fertile campaign settings with it's Frontier up for grabs for various powers. And your operatives are the pawns in the adventure of securing your own side's future within Covert: Espionage in Clement Sector. This supplement gives you all of the tools, tips, tricks and equipment to get the job of spycraft done. The writing, layout, artwork, and more are top notch. This book has everything to generate a brand new career paths, background, history, and more. 
 Covert: Espionage in Clement Sector is a book that can change the complete direction of a campaign. This book has everything you need to bring your Clement Sector rpg campaign into the world of intrigue and espionage! Violent and battle are not the tools here. Instead this is a stealth, cloak & dagger, assassination, and more book that will be usable for many years to come! 






Saturday, July 12, 2025

Star Without Number Revised Campaign - Mixing Trey Causey's Strange Stars & Terra Arisen rpg - Space Trucking Session Two

 We picking right up from two weeks ago's last session available right here.  In this game campaign we're using a combination of Stars Without Number revised Trey Causey's Strange Stars and Terra ArisenI kept Trey Causey's Strange Stars. And his OSR Strange Stars rulebook handy. 




We were escorting Terran Alliance local authorities into the Reticulan space around the former military bases that had been converted into Human bases. There was a smaller Human military presence with far more alien & Reticulan traders. The player's PC's dropped off their passengers and got paid. 
The PC's were contacted about moving  Gnomes genetic material for helping a post apocalyptic world stabilize it's genetic base. They met the Gnome transporter and courier who took possession of the material. There were no real words exchanged. Our telepathic link helped with the transaction and the party were really weirded out by the Gnomes. 
 The players wanted to get out of the area as soon as possible! The Gnome's ship departed and the crew of the Lakota left Gnome's space.


 We then got a message from a set of Kosmoniks traders who were interested in some of the trade goods that we've got in stock. The Lakota has a number of small high yield luxury cargoes for the colonies we've been visiting. Chocolate, pornography, etc are some of the smaller items that yield big to the humans that are acting as client colony for other aliens. We got the genetic material to the post apocalyptic world and were almost blasted out of the sky by a nuke! 



Friday, July 11, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary On Horde Wars Advanced D12 RPG By Nathan Lindy, & Todd Ritzema

 
"Horde War Advanced  is a fast paced Medieval Fantasy D12 RPG! Horde Wars Advanced covers all levels of play and over 200 Beasts, Monsters and NPCs to battle. Character creation rules, a starting adventure, sample town, and treasure generation tables are included. There are also chapters on sailing, domain play, and the setting."

Horde Wars Advanced is a whole cloth D12 inspired system that takes the Horde Wars rpg & advances it in the old school tradition. There's a ton of inspired new systems from character generation systems, campaign generation rules, sample towns, and new treasure generation tables. What does this means? It means that you as a player or DM get a whole cloth systems that are crunchy and well thought out. 



 Horde Wars Advanced is an rpg with tons of optional adventuring options like  castle building, dungeon exploration or adventuring,  Dragons,plus  loads of classes to play. All of this centers around the D12 mechanic which is similar to the D20 rpg systems that we're all familiar with. It's an rpg that centers around old school style adventures and situations that have everything from sailing rules to full on domain style play. This is a three hundred page role playing game with tons of monsters, options, and more. The rules are handled within the first 13 pages and then your ready to go as a player or dungeon master. Everything within Horde War Advanced D12 is then an add on too bring your own campaigns to life. 
Horde War Advanced brings the D12 mechanic to life for doing your own old school rpg adventures. This isn't a joke but a fact because of the nature of the D12 mechanic the rules are very clear. And you get everything you need within this book. 
The world of Valentia are brought to life in the later sections of this rpg. This is a world brought to life in violence and blood. The world is simple and straight forward but nuanced and very deadly. 



Is Horde Wars Advanced D12 RPG By Nathan Lindy, & Todd Ritzema  worth playing? In a word, yes! There's tons of quality material within this game perfectly suited too what it sets out to do and that's offer a quality rpg that's based around the D20 mechanic and all that it brings to the table! 


Thursday, July 10, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary 'The Last Viking' By RPGPundit For The Baptism of Fire Rpg For Your Old School Rpg Campaigns

 "The Last Vikings is a historical fantasy sourcebook designed to enrich Baptism of Fire campaigns. It is fully compatible with Lion & Dragon and other OSR systems with minimal adjustment. Set in the late 10th century, this supplement explores the legendary Viking bastion of Jomsburg, the final redoubt of pagan Norse warriors on the Pomeranian coast of Poland."

"Rooted in medieval lore and set during a time of religious upheaval, The Last Vikings plunges players into the tension between the old gods and the rising tide of Christianity. Centered on the fortified island of Wolin - believed by many scholars to be the historical Jomsburg - the book presents a vivid setting where hardened 'Jomsvikings' defend their pagan traditions, while Norse mercenaries, traders, and outlaws drift through the Pomeranian frontier."

 'The Last Viking' By RPGPundit For The Baptism of Fire Rpg campaign setting. This supplement hits the Pomeranian frontier area around the coast of Poland. The Vikings during the Baptism of Fire Rpg time period are within the last bastion of Pagan antiquity. The Old Gods are being challenged by the powers of Christianity. The Viking empire's grip on European affairs is loosening & the newer powers are asserting themselves.. fast. 
Yet, the Pagan world remains in the background with it's Chaos based weirdness is fully in charge of the Wilderness areas. The Wilderness is power unto itself to be reckoned with. 
The Last Viking fits the world of the Basptism of Fire rpg campaign setting with it's adventure elements, writing, artwork, and more. The editing, the layout, and more makes reading this supplement easily done. 




 The Baptism of Fire's Poland is a dynamic & action packed  campaign setting that blends it's Pagan and Christian elements something that picks up with 'The Last Viking' in spades. We get a ton of brand new Viking gods, spirits, magic, monsters, and more. All of this is intensely done with the backdrop of the roiling world of royal Poland already in flux with it's internal battlefields. This slips right into the 101 Sarmatians - Noble Intrigues for Baptism of Fire supplement's rpg systems. 



Is the Last Viking supplement worth the money of 10.00 dollars?! In a word, yes it is! Especially if you want to add in a whole cloth Viking campaign into your Baptism of Fire Rpg campaign. The world of the Last Viking is a world in a state of change and flux. This is a violent and highly dangerous world of warfare and bloodshed but this is also a world of trade and exploration. Grab this one! 

The Future isn't What It Used To Be - - Orbital Decay (MicroRed version) From The Red Room, Red Novanexus, & The New Flesh Rpg Setting

 When it comes to New Flesh, the adventurers or PC's are almost always dealing with the setting of New Flesh as much as an NPC as the antagonists they face. Avilidad is and always has been one of the most interesting aspects of the New Flesh rpg. 


This blog post picks right up from here on the blog.  I'm curious to see how I can incorporate Red Novanexus into Orbital Decay & New Flesh. Which isn't as hard as it seems because of the fact that Novanexus represents an older order of far future especially given the French or Europeancentric attitudes of that campaign setting. Aviladad represents a bionightmare future but there's the dregs of the cybernetic world still leering on the remains of the Ultra-Modern Plaza dazzling with the Neon Arcade's VR parlors and Crystal Galleria's elite boutiques within Novanexus. Both of these worlds existing side by side. 

The corporations and alien interests of both of these worlds existing side by side to slide into the further nightmare future of Orbital Decay. 


Red Novanexus is a step back into another Science Fiction world to adventure within. And it seems to exist outside of the bounds of Aviliadad. Paris has some of the trappings of New Flesh but exists on a different track. Orbital Decay is the future evolution of the Aviladad campaign setting on steroids. Mankind has expanded into the solar system and there are already alien colonies out beyond the stellar frontier. Alien forces have been giving mankind a bit of a leg up in terms of technology and stellar drives. 
This is a universe that has 'Lovecraftian' things waiting in the dark but the worry is what's been cuddling up with us in the darkness of Earth. Yes, the Orbital Decay campaign setting easily fuses with the Red New Flesh rpg. But there's some very dark goings on with the universe of Orbital Decay. 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

OSR Commentary On Faseripodia rpg Source book Subterranea By Johnathan Nolan For FASERIPOPEDIA Rpg or Classic FASERIP rpgs

 "SUBTERRANEA! Underground, Underworld, Tartarus and this Hollow Earth! Explore the worlds beneath our feet, from the eccentric Subway Wizards to the chained Titans of Tartarus to the Refuges of Dinosaurs and Cave People at the Earth's Core - and so very much more! Every kind of Subterranean adventure and creature is covered from the Earth's Core Mahars and Sagoth and the dinosaurs and Dinosaur Men to the Molemen of various types, Ratmen, Cave Giants, Cyclopaean Ruins and the monstrosities that might haunt them and vast ecologies of encounters. Randomize your way down into Subterranea, what you find when you get there, and how you might try and get back out - not always as simple as just climbing back in the mole machine or elevator, you see!" 





Faseripodia rpg Source book Subterranea By Johnathan Nolan is a fantastic source book for the underworld and underground of the FASERIPOPEDIA rpg or classic FASERIP rpg's. This is a massive supplement that brings the underground world of Burroughs, Verne, Wells, and more to life. A lot is packed with in this sourebook. According the reviewer Gregory on Drivethrurpg from Feb 28 2023; 

"My first impression, was of shock and awe. Like the FASERIPodedia, there is a staggering amount of content with a mind-boggling range. And it varied from great charts and frameworks upon which to hang an adventure (or series of adventures) to settings and 'denizens of the deep' that ranged from "cool, I recognise those", to "what the act f&%, the author must be high"... until a few minutes of internet research confirmed that, yes, ALL of the content is grounded in what has come before; comics and fiction sources that fans of the "worlds below" genre (or anyone willing to do internet research) will recognize. Yes, it is playable, adhering to the author's principles of creating a game structure that is simple enough to be easily picked up and robust enough to support complex themes and situations. Yes, it is entertaining in allowing a flowing rollicking story for players with an enormous amount of genre specific content. But what blew me away on this was the hidden gems of hidden history. Do yourself a favor and do a few internet searches on the content; more than once, entries I assumed were from old comics or fiction turned out to be references to history or events from our own cultural past. Sprinkling a few of these Easter Eggs into the game will give a great flavour of realism to a game of monsters, dangers and heroes."

Here's the thing about the underground world of Sunterranea, it can appear literally anywhere on Earth. Beneath your PC's feet is a world of myth, monsters, and super Science. This is a place that snatches the ordinary humans and folks from the surface of the Earth to become slaves to the Derro, the Morlocks, and many others. Sunterranea as a source book suffers from the lack of a real editor but makes up for it with the sheer scope of it. 


Subterranea By Johnathan Nolan  has everything too easily piggyback onto an existing classic FASERIP rpg aka classic Marvel Super Heroes rpg system. And this makes this game supplement easy to bring Pulpy underground and underworld adventure elements into your games. With characters like Marvel's Moleman and underworld & a 100% backwards compatibility rpg with ANY FASERIP rpg system makes Subterranea a great investment for me as a DM. 



Monday, July 7, 2025

Thirteen Parsecs: Beyond the Solar Frontier Rpg By Jason Vey & The Arduin Grimoire rpg - Dungeon of the Doomguards

  So let's pick it right up with the player's PC's entering the dungeon and surrounded by literally hundreds and hundreds of Doomguards! This session picks right up from where we left off last session here. 



This dungeon belongs to the hated King in Yellow  & it's filled with bits of liquid and solid Chaos left off from the passing of the King. There are lots and lots of Doomguards whom are melted together. 
The Mi Go never made it inside the dungeon because the Doomguard would overwhelm any of the Lovecraftian aliens that made into the dungeon itself. Why?! Because there's a key to the Nexus gate above in the ancient alien city. The players are not happy about finding these weird alien suits of armor which seem like any moment they will come to life! 



Now way back in April 24 I wrote up an ecology on the  Bloody Arduin Rpg Monster Ecology of The DoomguardSo I'm sticking with this ecology for our version of the alien Doomguard. Already one of our player's PC's almost bought it and got to use the medi bay of the Bolthole! The ship's doctor got to work stabilizing & implanting some cybernetics on our Slicer/Rogue from last game. So it was two PC's down since discovering the dungeon. 




Saturday, July 5, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary C4 The Threat of The Amphibian Beast By Marcelo P Augusto For OSR Rpg Campaign

 "An abandoned temple

Unexplained incidents

An unspeakable monstrosity
A cunning manipulator
And the effigy of chaos manifests!"


"
Will your brave group of adventurers be able to face this muddy OSR adventure for levels 2 to 4, full of  danger, mystery and... frogs?!!

The Threat of the Amphibian Beast is an adventure designed at first to be used with Old School Essentials, bute easely adapted to any OSR system of your choice.

Here are featured the city of North Raistilla, the surrounding villages, their NPCs and rumors, and the sinister swamp where a bestial evil waits."

 C4 The Threat of The Amphibian Beast is a whole cloth 24 page page adventure that centers around the threat of a deadly frog cult for PC's levels 2 through 4 but make no mistake this is a deadly little adventure. 



G4 The Threat of The Amphibian Beast By Marcelo P Augusto definitely fills a need for an adventure that caters to the need for a mid level adventure that would be perfect for OSR rpg game campaign with a Sword & Sorcery theme. G4 would be a great adventure for a Castles & Crusades rpg campaign centered around a Sword & Sorcery. G4 is a great little adventure with some solid editing, cartography, writing, and layout. This is a solidly done adventure with all of the trappings of a larger produced adventure. 

Even though G4 The Threat of The Amphibian Beast is meant for Old School Essential it would work easily into a Castles & Crusades rpg campaign. Here there's a ton of old school adventure and rpg elements such as Dwarves, and other fantasy races we've seen but G4 gives this adventure a real Sword & Sorcery feel. So integration into a Sword & Sorcery campaign a snap! 



Is  G4 The Threat of The Amphibian Beast a good adventure?! Yes, the adventure elements are there, the writing solidly done, and it works all wrapped up in 24 pages of an adventure! 


Friday, July 4, 2025

Baptism of Fire Rpg By Rpg Pundit From Mad Scribe Games - Elven Chaos Cults & The Deep Rot of Chaos Session Four

 The Elven dungeon which had recently been opened up was crowded with alien and demonic voices echoing off the walls. This session picks right up with the last one last week.. The dungeon had recently been excavated and had the walls shun up with wooden support beams. 


We immediately ran into two goblin guards which we dispatched. They were armed with Chaos Elven weapons. We put them to holy water and moved on! Then we came upon a Chaos ritual in session being run by a masked black wizard & one of the royal advisors to the minor Polish court! Everything here comes from  Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos. The whole place was crowded by Chaos worshipers and there were Elven henges that had become part of the dungeon. 



 The whole scene was quietly observed by our adventurers who slowly circled the entire scene with oil and torches. The oil was dumped and poured down the stairs by our player's PC and then lit! That's right the group didn't wait around to find out what or who were behind the Elven masks. We knew that the dungeon cult was a royal Chaos cult and this cult was generated by using 101 Sarmatians For Dungeons & Dragons and more By Rpg Pundit. We put the whole cult to the flame and flint but we want to see what royals come out to play! 


Thursday, July 3, 2025

More OSR Campaign Commentary On The Cities Without Number rpg By Kevin Crawford

 So one of the OSR rpg systems that I've been recently going back into is Cities Without Number. There are a couple of reasons for this. The Cyberpunk rpg tools are incredible & even the free version has some incredible random tables to it. 



Cities Without Number has some incredible resources & according to some of the reviews such as JC from March 10th 2024; 'The switch from classes to edges is very true to the genre, since cyberpunk criminals have always needed to be poly-skilled for any game to be fun and feel right.

'There's flavor / culture bits in here I never expected to love as much as I do. Crawford knows how to dig into a genre to find the mindsets that would actually emerge and be prevalent in such a world. Corporate genders?!? It's amazing.

It's a simple OSR-derived system that almost anybody can pick up. It's also got enough crunch for crunch-lovers to dig deep into for a good while, and it's open and easily moddable such that more crunch can be added as desired.

Currently running a Shadowrun campaign in this. So glad there's a system that I can use for it now, since Shadowrun's own system has always been so unworkable.' And I've got to agree on the Shadowrun theme of the game. There's more then enough here to run at least three Shadowrun style game campaigns. The fact that the DM or the players can customize their own cybernetics & put their own spin on these implants is awesome. 
The matrix style netrunning is rules are better within Stars Without Number in my humble opinion. The net running rules within SWN are a bit clearer. This isn't to say that CWN isn't 100% legit brilliant in 99.9 of it's execution. 



I think that for building a Cyberpunk style campaign Cities Without Number can't be beat. The fact that you get a full on city setting to play with means that the adventure locations are not going to get out of hand. Nor are you going to run out of places to send your operatives. The city is the perfect size to get a one shot or an on going campaign up and running. 
But what I'm going to do is turn the usual CWN city setting into an interstellar colony. Yes, I realize that this isn't original but it's often a lot of fun to mix the SWN/CWN adventure elements into a coherent campaign. More to come! 


Wednesday, July 2, 2025

OSR Review & Commentary 'Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands' By Mathew Tapp For The Barrows & Borderlands Rpg

 
"A collection of Play-Test, Teaser, and Free rulings, Classes, Items, and more for the Barrows & Borderlands TTRPG! This is a living document that will be added to as time goes on!"




"A fractured home. Firnum, the flat rock that houses all the great nations of Malores, Urden, Khalida, and Osmia. Between them all lies the Borderlands, region that sits in the intersection between fact and fiction. It is the epicenter of starfall impacts, the former home of Dynaco Industries, and the most resource rich region in the world. This is where 95% of my stories take place. Though the world did not always look like this."

Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands' By Mathew Tapp is a great overflow supplement that contains addition campaign setting information and expansion of the whole regions plus much more. We get patrons for adventuring parties based on the party's alignment. A new version of the classic paladin for the Barrows & Borderlands rpg. A PC build of the Chronomancer who come from the future to try and repair the world before it all goes to Hell. We also get a system for optional ability score modifiers for PC's and NPC's. Then it's onto the main focus new racial options for NPC's and PC's. These include Dark Starborn, Slime, Grey, and Saurian all of which are optional PC and racial classes. This is  because the Barrows & Borderlands rpg is a hybrid of OD&D and B/X with sprinklings of AD&D first edition thrown in. 


 'Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands' By Mathew Tapp is a solid additional set of an overflow supplemental overflow rule book. This is a live download in the sense that there will be more material added for the B&B rpg system. 
 'Radioactive Boogaloo - Barrows & Borderlands'  is a solid additional set of rules, races, and optional systems. It adds more to an already solid background and campaign setting in many ways.