A blog about sewing machine repairs,but mainly my hobbies which include old school role playing games, science fiction,films, horror, and general geekery. Sit down and stay a spell.
Showing posts with label Bundle of Holding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bundle of Holding. Show all posts
"This is the only home you've ever known. They call it the Silver Waste-a desert sea of silvery dunes blasted by endless sandstorms during the day and freezing temperatures at night. For generations, your tribe has clung to life in a concrete building subsisting on the trickle of edible goo spewing from a broken replicator. You and the other hunters vie against rival mutant tribes and hungry scorplions in the scant hours between storms searching for fresh game and wondrous devices from a bygone age of technology. Is this all there is to life? No one that treks more than a couple miles from home ever returns. Everyone says they are dead, but that can't be true. Not all of them. What if there is a way through the giant impassable wall to the south? What if there is an easier way of life beyond the dunes? You've hoarded water and rations for weeks waiting for the right moment to set your plan into motion..."
My job often requires quite a bit of reading, research, & roping in many different resources. Often times my roleplaying requires the same. Same thing with the Starship Warden rpg & its attendant supplements. I like so many others had missed the Kickstarter. But grabbed the Starship Warden rpg book as soon as it came out. But I could have sworn that there was an adventure that ages ago I saw for the original Metamorphis Alpha first edition where a lone band of adventurers finds a ziggurat in the silver deserts of the Warden. Turns out that it's a part of the Goodman Games run of the Metamorphis Alpha rpg by James Ward. This is a part of the MA Rpg Bundle of Holding that's got five days to go !
Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015) by Jobe Bittman be adapted for the the Starship Warden rpg?! Short answer? Yes As a starting adventure its very interesting & clocks in at only sixteen pages. The village is a pretty in depth village location as a start point for an adventure considering that this is a Goodman Game product. Yes this is a rather deadly little adventure but it hits the high points for MA. The artwork is very typical of 2015 Goodman games but hits the high marks for MA. The stats should be easy enough to convert to Starship Warden stats easily enough. And the adventure doesn't overstay its welcome. For new PC's in the Starship Warden this a good introductory adventure. There's a bit of growth potential if the DM want's to spend a bit of time adapting some of the stats to Starship Warden rules. Is this an overly impressive adventure?! Yes & no, yes its a solid adventure but if your trying to run the Starship Warden or MA as a 'Castles & Crusades' switch up or Dungeon Crawl Classics switch up then Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015) by Jobe Bittman isn't going to work.
But using 'Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015)' by Jobe Bittman as an intro for The Starship Warden where the PC's are a part of the community of 'Supershop Mart' cut off from the rest of the Warden?! This just might work as a real kick ass intro. The monsters are deadly & the locations dangerous. But from the perspective of a starting player this 'Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015)' by Jobe Bittman this one might hit all of the high points. So why does 'Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015)' by Jobe Bittman hit the high marks in my humble opinion?! There are several reasons:
Kick ass introductory adventure, 'Death Ziggurat in Zero-G doesn't hold the new DM's hand. You as the DM are expected to know what your doing.
This adventure throws the PC's into the deep end of the Warden.
The adventure has the Goodman Games weirdness factor to it.
There's enough of the original MA feel here to work into your own version of the Warden or other starship
scorplions
Got to say that I really enjoyed reading 'Death Ziggurat in Zero-G (2015)' by Jobe Bittman and its a stand out adventure in my humble opinion. Will I be using it?! Hard to say really. I'd have to reveal the secret of the players PC's being trapped on the Warden or do I?!
So is AS&SH still worth getting after all this time?! Even when it was published in 2016?! Yes as one of the best OSR Sword & Sorcery Advanced Dungeons & Dragons retroclones it still stands up. The material here is well organized, the classes expansive, and the writing tight. The system is a good solid twist or two on the AD&D first edition rpg mechanics. Ultimately this bundle is a really nice add on for the rule book pdf because we don't know when the hard back is coming back into print. Grab the AS&SH Bundle of Holding Here
Old school adventure, dungeon crawling, warfare, & even the conquest of entire countries is the province of The Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg system. You can get in on the action of grabbing the entire OSR system in one bundle while helping out a great charity!
I haven't written much lately on Adventurer, Conqueror, King because I been rather busy with work & real life which has tendency to overshadow the hobby of OSR table top gaming easily. Anyone
reading this blog knows I'm a fan of Autarch Publishing & the
Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg system as well as the Blog of Holding
folks. So with only twenty eight hours to get in on the deal you can get in on the ACK's action. I did a pretty extensive overview of this wonderful OSR tool kit of a game here.
So this is definitely going to be a case of what have you done for me lately Eric? Well let me speak about the main rule book & the ACK's set of tools that you get for campaign construction. The ACK's system is designed to take advantage of & enhance both itself as well as OSR classic & retroclone systems. It does this in a three fold way. One because its based on the Labyrinth Lord retroclone system its easy to understand & somewhat intuitive to use by an old school dungeon master. The basic rule book adds in a lot of options & bells and whistles for a unique system for domain play. The player characters have a lot more at stake that's tied in with not only domain level play but their own class levels as well. Most of all getting in on this bundle helps out the charity that is close to Alexander Marcus's heart because he's a friend of mine. My heart goes out to those who suffer with Mitochondrial
Disease because that's who were helping out here. Alexander Marcus has a
personal stake in this & he's a friend of mine.
"Ten percent of your payment (after payment gateway fees) goes to the
charity chosen by Autarch Publishing owner Alexander Macris, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.
"It's a charity near and dear to me," says Alex. "My wife, Amy, was the
first bladedancer in the Auran Empire, but she is now so sick with mito
disease she can no longer even play tabletop RPGs. Her illness has no
cure and limited treatments; the UMDF is trying to change that for her
and other sufferers.""
When it comes to PC advancement & domain level end game, ACK's is really in a class by itself but because its based partially on B/X Dungeons & Dragons its really simple to pick up the system & then use it for campaign development. The end result is that you get a PC whose reached the end of their adventuring career while actually changing & leaving their mark on your campaign setting. Not the empty promises of past old school editions & retroclones but a real mark that will ripple throughout the eternities of your old school campaigns!
From start to finish, you get a complete system that can take your player characters from their humble beginnings to the halls of power as well as beyond. There are tons of options to choose from for PC development, reasons for the existence of dungeons & mega dungeons, deadly political intrigue, domain level conquest, gun rules that actually work within the context of war, the economics of adventuring, and rules that keep pace as well as grow with your players as they reach the dizzy heights of power but all of this depends upon if they survive!
So now is the time to get in on this great OSR system & get cracking on a brand new campaign of ACK's! You get a complete OSR system, help a great cause, and contribute to making your PC's mark on history!
In the far reaches of the world, under a lost and lonely hill, lies the
sinister Tomb of Horrors. This labyrinthine crypt is filled with
terrible traps, strange and ferocious monsters, rich and magical
treasures, and somewhere within rests the evil Demi-Lich.
Recently I've been thinking about the infamous Tomb of Horrors module, I'm fascinated by it in a number of ways. First a bit of background courtesy of Wiki;"Tomb of Horrors was written by Gary Gygax for official D&D tournament play at the 1975 Origins 1 convention.[3][5][6] Gygax developed the adventure from an idea by Alan Lucien, one of his original AD&Dplaytesters, "and I admit to chuckling evilly as I did so."[7] Gygax designed the Tomb of Horrors
modules for two related purposes. First, Gygax explains, "There were
several very expert players in my campaign, and this was meant as yet
another challenge to their skill—and the persistence of their
theretofore-invincible characters. Specifically, I had in mind foiling
Rob Kuntz's PC, Robilar, and Ernie Gygax's PC, Tenser."
Second, so that he was "ready for those fans [players] who boasted of
having mighty PCs able to best any challenge offered by the AD&D
game." So right away this was one of the high level tournament style modules with the special 'S' designation. Once again this is a competition module that was used at the D&D Seventy Five Origins convention. I would have been just a touch young back then to attend. I was about five back then. I didn't get introduced to the infamous tomb until about Eighty One or so. There was one very important influence on how I perceived the S1 Tomb of Horrors Adventure. His name was Indiana Jones. Alright so the family dog's name was Indiana but we didn't get to know that till Last Crusade.
What would the Tomb of Horrors really mean in a campaign setting? I think personally it would be a legendary place a sort of tomb of legend such as the tomb of Alexander The Great or Genghis Khan's final resting place. Think about it, the demi-lich Acererak has got to be one of his world's most infamous wizards & tyrants. He's not trying to simply keep his treasures & relics, he's trying to kill the adventurers dead with all kinds of tricks and traps. But why? Well because he's keeping himself amused & entertained throughout the centuries. The tomb is one more project ahead of him, he's got eternity ahead of him & possibly to him this is the greatest chess game of all time. He's got one of the greatest egos of all time so why not test your mettle against some of the greatest thieves, cut throats & murderers that society can produce?
The tomb isn't just some nega dungeon to draw PC's to their death; no this place is a giant sink of ego spanning evil that plays a giant game of chess with the campaign setting. I've written about Dwimmermount having earth shaking connections well think about this. You've got a giant animated chess board of a tomb that continues operations & a wizard whose probably at one point in his life conquered half of his world to build this thing. He's going to have entire blood lines running around with all kinds of 'Game of Thrones' style NPC's murdering each other, petty kingdoms ruled by family members, main court murders, affairs of power etc. Perhaps Acererak got tired of court life & ruler ship & simply retired to the tomb? Naw, I think he's ruling from the shadows through a number of proxies. This is where Dark Albion could come in very handy to set up the types of intrigues & double dealing that the Tomb could inspire.
The thing to remember about Tomb of Horrors is not only the legend & mythology of the place but its fame. This is a competition module & its one that has a reputation that it deserves; the freaking thing is deadly. Could such a place be built in the real world and if so where? I think that China or Mongolia might be the places where this tomb would be built and maintained. But why?
The dungeon of the demi-lich Acererak is being maintained so that the demi lich can eliminate his potential rivals with little issue to himself. I've been rereading Adventurer, Conqueror, King & Dark Albion this is just the type of tactic that an evil megalomaniac wizard would do. He'd be using his country's GDP to create just such an enterprise and then maintain it. Why? Well in ACK's terms this place would be a 'sink of evil' where magic is going to be easier to cast. He's got a steady supply of sacrifices to the gods that maintain his lichdom & he's got an eternity of bloody murder for entertainment. But to what end? You've got to think outside the box here. This is a guy whose got eternity to play with so not only can he expand upon his tomb but he's got plenty of time to expand upon his bloodlines, family position, and even role out monsters to guard his domains. Using the ancient China analogy here Acererak could play this cat & mouse game with his entire country using monsters, lairs, politics to pull his power together. This is something that Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Monsters & Lairs has a ton of rules and systems for just this sort of play.
Tomb of Horrors can be used to build an entire campaign around with the right view point & looking at the long term goals of the players & PC's. The challenge is to create an engaging & pulpy feel to this wonderfully classic nega dungeon. Right now is a great time to pick up any of the ACK's titles. The
entire system is well done and offers tons of options, systems, and
more for OSR style play! This bundle is for a great cause & you get
some really top draw quality products.
While I don't work for any one table role playing game company it was pointed out today that I'm a pundit of the OSR & there are certain responsibilities which go with being a part of the table top rpg hobby. So you have to give back to the hobby and community, sometimes this goes hand in hand with getting some great OSR stuff. Anyone reading this blog knows I'm a fan of Autarch Publishing & the Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg system as well as the Blog of Holding folks. Well they've got this deal cooking for a great charity,"Through Monday, January 30 we present the Adventurer Conqueror King System Bundle featuring Autarch's sweeping FRPG" that lets you build and run your own fantasy kingdoms" You get a ton of ACK's system for a really good price -
This bargain-priced offer brings you pretty much the entire Adventurer Conqueror King System product line. Pay just US$9.95 to get all five titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $40) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- Adventurer Conqueror King System
(retail price $10): The complete corebook with comprehensive,
integrated support for play across all levels of a campaign. (Previously
presented in the November 2013 Old School Revival offer.) - ACKS Player's Companion (retail $10): Add 19 new ACKS character classes, and get under the hood to create your own classes. - Domains at War: Campaigns (retail $7.50): Chart your heroes' rise to power with these comprehensive rules for military actions among kingdoms. - The Sinister Stone of Sakkara (retail $10): This ideal introductory adventure highlights everything ACKS brings to your gaming table. - Auran Empire Primer (retail $2.50): A graceful introduction to the official ACKS campaign setting, a not-yet-fallen empire in late Antiquity ripe for conquest.
And if you pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $18.95 to start, you'll level up and also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles (retail value $55):
- Dwimmermount (ACKS version, retail $10): Autarch's colossal 400-page science-fantasy megadungeon and campaign setting. Includes the Dungeon Tracker (retail $10), Map Book (retail $7.50), and Illustration Book (retail $5). (We presented the Labyrinth Lord version of Dwimmermount in the November 2015 OSR +4. The supplements are new to this offer and work with both versions.) - Domains at War: Battles and Troops and Terrain (retail $7.50 each): Conduct the landmark conflicts from your Campaigns actions as easily as you run character combats. - Lairs & Encounters
(retail $10): More than 165 ready-to-play monster lairs, plus rules for
creating and advancing monsters fit to challenge a kingdom.
So why I'm helping out? Well I've got real friends involved in the ACK's community & my heart goes out to those who suffer with Mitochondrial Disease because that's who were helping out here. Alexander Marcus has a personal stake in this & he's a friend of mine.
"Ten percent of your payment (after payment gateway fees) goes to the
charity chosen by Autarch Publishing owner Alexander Macris, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.
"It's a charity near and dear to me," says Alex. "My wife, Amy, was the
first bladedancer in the Auran Empire, but she is now so sick with mito
disease she can no longer even play tabletop RPGs. Her illness has no
cure and limited treatments; the UMDF is trying to change that for her
and other sufferers.""
I know what your thinking that I've somehow got some kind of personal stake in this bundle of holding and your absolutely right. Adventurer, Conqueror, King is possibly one of my favorite systems to run. The system is clean and does exactly what it says on the can as one of my friends said for that 'sweet domain level play'. The character classes are actually customization & the play is smooth. Plus the setting is original enough that it stands out on its own, the system seems to be the more experienced gamers in my circle of jaded dungeon masters a favorite. Because the system is a solid B/X D&D variant it clicks all kinds of bells with them. The ACK's Player's Companion is worth its weight in gold pieces because it adds in new PC classes, templates, rules, systems and all kinds of interesting things for actual play.
Auran Empire Primer- Is a great introduction to the late Antiquity style ancient empire of Auran. An OSR setting with its own flavor, character, and feel that can help to start your PC's on the road of ruler ship & power!
The Sinister Stone of Sakkara is the beginning point for adventurers, outlaws, and a crew of adventurers. This introduction is solidly done and offers all kinds of play for a party in a dangerous setting of intrigue, danger, and quite literally a Lovecraftian hell in the desert. A bit of dungeon crawling, starting ACK's weirdness, & everything you need to get started in the world of Auran. Its also a homage & love letter to the Keep on The Borderlands.
Did you ever want a war gaming system that actually works with the retroclone your using. A system that grows with and changes the course of your PC's destiny through the boiling violence of war & battle?
Domains at War: Campaigns & Domains at War: Battles and Troops and Terrain can do exactly that and more for your PC's. Domains at War: Campaigns gives you the tools to conduct wars among kingdoms that will affect the lives of city states, villages, towns, and whole communities. Domains at War: Battles and Troops and Terrain gives optional streamlined systems for war gaming and battles of high caliber actions for troops and tactics of war. Lairs & Encounters is one of my favorite OSR monster books to come out in the last five years. This is a no nonsense book of lairs, encounters, and more that puts the monster center stage as the motivator for adventure, party conflicts, and more. Rules for every aspect of encounters and lairs including how monsters affect not only the local adventure scene but how their presence effects an entire region for play! This book alone is worth the price of admission. Seriously its just that good
Then we come to one of the big megadungeons that's ground up & spit out more adventurers then I know. I'm speaking of course of the monster that is Dwimmermount (ACKS version). When the doors of this place open then nothing in the world will ever be the same. Dwimmermount separates the weak from those that survive its perils. This is a megadungeon for the ages and its perfect for the way that ACK's deals in domain play and power.
So why I'm so gone on this retroclone system? Because it enhances & fills out any other OSR system that its applied to and its damn flexible at what it does! Because its a Dungeons & Dragons B/X clone Adventurer, Conqueror, King is easy to pick up and run right away for an experienced DM. The system offers the type of play that many old school players want and like. The entire system is well done and offers tons of options, systems, and more for OSR style play! This bundle is for a great cause & you get some really top draw quality products.
Over the last couple of years I've heard from folks who say that they'd love to get into the Lamentations of the Flame Princes rpg system but its too expensive to get the whole catalog of OSR adventure goodness. Well there's now a way to get into the system and help out a great charity in the process.
So the bundle of holding is doing this big crossover with the Lamentations of the Flame Princess folks and according to the organizers," the Bundle of Lamentations is indeed the third most popular offer this year!" Now is a great time to get into the weird pulpy historic action of Lamentations. Now Zzarchov Kowolski has just unleashed a free adventure to be added into the bundle!!
"Through Monday, August 1, we present the Bundle of Lamentations, featuring James Raggi's weird-fantasy RPG Lamentations of the Flame Princess. With a heavy-metal attitude and explicit non-work-safe illustrations, LotFP
presents a sinister and horrific twist on fantasy gaming. For fearless
gamers who are over 18 and have strong stomachs, the Lamentations
support line embodies some of the hobby's most imaginative work from
leading designers.
We've presented many Lamentations titles in our past Old School Revival offers: A Red and Pleasant Land, Death Frost Doom, The God That Crawls, Qelong, and others. This new offer's only duplicate from past collections is the single most famous Lamentations title, the spectacular city-design supplement Vornheim.
Pay just US$11.95 to get all six titles in our Weird Starter Collection (retail value $42.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic Full Version
(retail price $5): The complete core rulebook by James Raggi of
weird-cosmic-metal fantasy. Includes the introductory adventure Tower of the Stargazer (retail $6).
- Vornheim (retail $9): The brilliant city-design kit by Zak S (A Red and Pleasant Land, Maze of the Blue Medusa). Previously presented in our first Old School Revival offer, November 2013.
- The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions (retail $10): A system for building wizard towers by D. Vincent Baker (Apocalypse World).
- Thulian Echoes (retail $7.50): One dungeon explored twice -- first in the ancient past, then again a thousand years later.
- The Pale Lady (retail $5): Zzarchov Kowolski's expedition into the realm of an evil fae queen.
And if you pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $22.95 to start, you'll level up and also get our entire Historic Bonus Collection with seven more titles (retail value $52) that show LotFP's fascinating takes on world history:
- World of the Lost (retail $10): A breathtaking 180-page hexcrawl and time-crawl by Rafael Chandler (Pandemonio).
- The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (retail $4.50): A Renaissance Man in 17C Amsterdam who brings cosmic weirdness to the world.
- The Cursed Château (retail $7.50): James Maliszewski's venerable haunted house in an expanded deluxe edition.
- Scenic Dunnsmouth
(retail $10): A rotting swamp town with two dark secrets, and an
innovative dice-and-cards system that makes it endlessly replayable.
- The Squid, the Cabal, and the Old Man (retail $7.50): The 1685 war between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke, told with a bloody twist.
- England Upturn'd (retail $7.50): The English Civil War, Lamentations-style.
- Forgive Us (retail $5): 1625 was a plague year in Norwich. History tells us it was an outbreak of the Black Death. History is wrong.
That's a US$92.50
value for a price less than Troma Studios pays for a quart of
theatrical blood and a few intestines. Ten percent of your payment
(after gateway fees) goes to the charity selected by Lamentations
designer James Raggi, The Myositis Association.
This Bundle of Lamentations offer ends Monday, August 1."
and that's really a fine gesture on the part of James Raggi and his authors. The MAA work is very important and I can't stress enough how this is such a great thing.
I love this piece of artwork by Satine Phoenix and it really does have that LoFP experience about it.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess is for me one of the corner stones of OSR weird horror role playing, its controversial and has some downright nasty titles in the line but there's also some very well done material here especially in this bundle.
You start off with the backbone of LoFP's system and the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic Full Version
(retail price $5): The complete core rulebook by James Raggi Includes the introductory adventure Tower of the Stargazer (retail $6) which is a perfect vehicle to bring players into the weirdness that Lamentations offers. Vornheim is an urban city kit par excellence and allows a DM to build an urban city location as they want. This book alone is worth the price of admission alone but couple this with The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions and you get a complete tool kit for creating a wizard's tower and the fantasy urban crawl of your dreams. The Pale Lady adventure presents a very different take on the world of Fairy and the realm of an evil fae queen. I've run players through this one and its a very dangerous take on familiar mythological material made new. Thulian Echoes is a dive into a the deep end of the historical and magickal end of the Lamentations vision of OSR adventures. There is some high weirdness happening here and its nicely done.
Right if you step up your game into the next tier of the bundle then things are going to get really interesting. Rafael Chandler's World of the Lost is possibly one of the best 'Lost World' reference books/adventures I've ever seen and its really useful for any OSR retroclone gaming systems. One of the best titles I've seen for 2016 and well worth the money. The Magnificent Joop van Ooms is an adventure that will leave your players talking for years in a good way. Very well done and utterly unique in OSR gaming. The Cursed Château is a very dangerous haunted house adventure with more then a few twists and should be used carefully there's the potential for a complete TPK but its a very well thought out adventure.
Scenic Dunnsmouth is a mini campaign that never plays the same way twice and is itself a mid level adventure location of shall we say rather unique horrors and weirdness.
The Squid, the Cabal, and the Old Man is a magick battle between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke with the bloody soul of 1685 at stake. This is a messed up adventure and very well done. England Upturn'd is the bloody soul of England's civil war with the dark forces of the occult and its factions taking sides and turning the bleeding pages of history. The Idea From Space takes place on an island and two weirdly twisted god like entities making war on each other with the PC's trapped in the middle of the events! Tales of the Scarecrow is OSR horror adventures in the Lamentations tradition with an isolated farm house, weird encounters & a horrific monster right in the middle of it all.
Part of what makes Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventures so nice is the replay value. Each and every adventure is a self enclosed setting with all of its own elements to it and plenty of DYI D&D value. There are plenty of opportunities to connect this material with other OSR titles, this is especially true of Labryth Lord style rpg systems and the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg systems. Enterprising DM's can use not only LoFP but lots of other OSR systems to get the maximum utility from the products being offered in the Bundle of Lamentations!
Want to get your OSR adventure collection up to spec and not spend a fortune for the privilege? The Bundle of Holding Old School Revival +3 is perfect for getting huge chunk of quality OSR adventures, source books, and campaigns. This is a beautiful opportunity to jump in on the OSR action and start up a campaign. Right now in this bundle, for less than $14 you get these PDFs:
Slumbering Ursine Dunes Gnomes of Levnec Strange Stars Weird Adventures and Strange Trails
A Red & Pleasant Land Owl Hoot Trail Fever-Dreaming Marlinko Beyond the Wall The Gem Prison of Zardax
You easily get $14
worth of value out of the combined works of Chris Kutalik, Zzarchov
Kowolski, Trey Causey, Zak S, Clinton R. Nixon, Kevin Culp, Robert
Parker, John Cocking, and Peter S. Williams.
This is a prime time to get in on the ground floor of a brand new OSR adventure campaign, this bundle contains a fantastic set of titles to spark your imaginations. There's a whole couple of years worth of OSR material here. This set covers everything from science fiction and pulp fantasy with both Strange Stars and Strange Adventure to award winning OSR resources like A Red and Pleasant Land. There are some powerful and award winning authors/designers;Chris Kutalik, Zzarchov
Kowolski, Trey Causey, Zak S, Clinton R. Nixon, Kevin Culp, Robert
Parker, John Cocking, and Peter S. Williams.
Now I've had a lot of experience with the vast majority of these titles both running and playing them. These are very organic and well worth the expense of fourteen dollars. Many of these titles are perfect fodder for running a whole lot of hex crawling and adventure design. In point of fact they could be used to overlap and create a whole host of OSR goodness. The folks who wrote this material are very,very, good at designing and sketching out adventure sandboxes. I know from experience that once these bundles end lots of folks kick themselves over not getting in on the action. From a design and adventure stand point this stuff is killer OSR material! This adventure material covers my own preference which is hex crawling OSR style and its easily adaptable to any number of settings and retroclone systems to run it.
Now as far as designing out your own campaigns and dropping this material into it, that's a snap to add these in as either other dimensional adventure locations, place worlds to visit or as complete setting unto themselves for your old school retroclones. You've got ten days to get in on the action and girt your loins for OSR adventure! Now is the time to get your OSR love on!
HERE I was able to snag a copy of this book through Stars Without Numbers writer/designer Kevin Crawford. So thanks for the review copy. This book will be hitting the shelves or pdf download sometime in September, if you want a copy get in on the bundle of holding action. You've got two days and the clock is ticking folks. This is for a great cause. Actually several great causes. Engines of Babylon is sandbox gaming at its best. This is a great little book that manages to pack into forty two pages everything a SWN dungeon master might need to fill in some great stuff. This book isn't simply a set of vechile design guide lines or another hardware book. This book has all of those including some really nifty options for designing all of those wonderful toys that the PC's love to play with in the SWN backdrop. What we also get is view behind the curtain to the shiny and glitzy high technological past of the setting as well as the harder, darker, edges of the present. The practicalities of adventuring within the 'now' of Stars Without Number universe and we get a taste of how far we've fallen as one species among the glittering stars of the universe. We also get an expansion of the maltech that can cause entire worlds to fold into themselves with horror and depravity. Maltech dances through the SWN books like some evil jester waiting to wreck entire societies and worlds at the click of a button of some vile villain with little provocation. Maltech isn't something to be taken lightly and counts as both treasure, artifact, and evil device all at the same time and there's plenty of it for the DM to choose from. Choose very wisely though because this stuff can bring a campaign to its knees very quickly. Where Maltech is involved, a world is going to need heroes and adventurers fast. This book is another of the Stars Without Number books with an eye towards hard core sand box gaming. The treasures described in the luxury section are technological materials that any one percenter would give their eye teeth for. There's plenty of artifacts here that could sell for beyond a king's ransom on a world. These luxuries are piece of technology that given the right circumstance could propel a world from the dark recesses of technological hell to a viable industrial model quite easily. But there are also pieces that collectors will pay big bucks for many of these items are one in the same. This is going to make adventuring quite dangerous, fun, and entertaining all at once. There's some nice sections on using these technological goodies as well within the back drop of the SWN universe. But the material is done in such a way that one can easily use or discard any of the material in this book with ease. The material of Engines of Babylon builds upon the foundations laid out in many of the earlier Stars Without Number books but unlike many other rpg's this book does present the DM a corner to paint his or herself into. Instead we get an expansion of the pictures laid out in the earlier SWN books. This allows a DM to use and set up an adventure within the technological time frame described within this book. As I said this isn't just another equipment and vehicles books but rather an essential book that builds on what has come before. This book dovetails into books like Other Dust and the Sun Kings book as well as pulling from much of the free material available. This doesn't mean that there's tons of repeated material from the main SWN rule book or some of the other supplements. No, this is different take that allows a DM to create the backdrop technologies and material for their stories. When players and DM's are designing adventures this is going to be one of the books that their going to be reaching for. The book packs plenty of bang for the dollar, and this book covers the essentials. Are you going to need a lower tech star ship for that adventure among the backwater worlds? This book has that material. Need a world ending artifact with some very strange options then the Maltech devices are just what your looking for. Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy and those amazing ships are what your PC's want to fly? Those are available as well. This book is perfect for creating lower tech level star ships without sacrificing the 'wow' factor or handing your PC's a spike drive ship when their not ready to get out of the planetary system just yet. This is also the book for designing those hybrid ships that the NPC villain forces need to give your heroes a bloody nose. They'll think twice about messing with the local planetary forces. This is a great read with lots of strong gamable stuff packed into this book's forty two pages. There are a ton of reasons to recommend this book, my largest reason is this: This book will expand your game's campaign with lots of technological toys and plenty of room for your DM's thumb print when using this book to create adventures. This book will help to generate those adventures with a technological twist and keep your players coming back for more. I personally think that this is one of the Stars Without Number essential books that's coming on the market. Get it while you can or wait for it to make its appearance coming soon. Personally why wait? If you've ever thought about jumping into the Stars Without Number campaign setting and system. Now is the perfect time to get in on the action.
Oh shiny, just when I restarted my Stars Without Number Tuesday night game, Kevin Crawford comes out with another Bundle of Holding so that you can get the entire run of SWN in one shot! But wait for it, he's got a brand new book hot off the presses for his old school sand box science fiction game set.
Engines of Babylon is a book that I've been waiting a long time for. The Engines of Babylon -- an all-new SWN equipment book, debuting in this offer, for creating vehicles and low-tech system spaceships when you level up the amount you pay for the bundle.
Last year we saw the debut of Relics of the Lost (retail $7): A sourcebook of long-dead technology from the Second Wave of human colonization, in last year's bundle of holding.
According to the bundle of holding page:
Adventurer! Stellar explorer Kevin Crawford has resurrected our October 2013 Stars Without Number Bundle from Sine Nomine Publishing. This revived offer returns bigger and better, with a brand-new, never-before-publishedStars Without Number supplement available only in this offer and nowhere else.
Stars Without Number is a leading science fiction tabletop RPG for devotees of the Old School Revival and "sandbox" roleplaying. In a sandbox game, the setting is wide open for adventure in all directions. And one of the best games for starfaring, sandbox-style, is Stars Without Number.
For just US$8.95, you get all three titles in our starter collection (retail value $35) as DRM-free, non-watermarked .PDF ebooks:
Stars Without Number Core Edition (retail price $20): The complete 253-page rulebook, including 40 pages of bonus material unavailable in other editions.
Skyward Steel (retail $10): Join the Thousand Lights of the Stellar Navy and embrace both the duties and the terrible freedom of a naval campaign.
Hard Light (retail $5): The first SWN adventure setting. In the radioactive glare of a red giant star, explore the hard-bitten mining outpost of Brightside and ancient asteroid Sky Tombs.
And if you pay more than the threshold price of $19.67, you'll level upand get Kevin Crawford's Engines of Babylon -- an all-new SWNequipment book, debuting in this offer, for creating vehicles and low-tech system spaceships -- plus these bonus titles (total retail value $44):
Darkness Visible (retail $10): Spacefaring espionage campaigns of classified perils, nameless heroes, and secret glory.
Other Dust (retail $20): Kevin Crawford's 208-page post-apocalypse sandbox RPG completely compatible with SWN.
Relics of the Lost (retail $7): A sourcebook of long-dead technology from the Second Wave of human colonization. This supplement debuted in this offer's original October 2013 run.
Remember, now you can give a Bundle of Holding as a gift -- either a generic gift code good for any one bundle, or a gift download link for this specific bundle that's good even after the offer ends. With one quick purchase, you can give a new player the whole Galaxy.
So why get in on this action?
Ten percent of your payment is split equally between two fine causes selected by Stars Without Number designer Kevin Crawford: Doctors Without Bordersand the Benzie Food Partners food bank, which serves the Michigan county where Kevin lives.
I've talked with Kevin via email a couple of times and he's a stand up guy and if you've gotten in on the bundle of holding last year?
Did you buy this bundle during its original October 2013 run? If so, check your Wizard's Cabinet download page -- you've already received the Engines of Babylon supplement added for this revival. When you buy a Bundle of Holding early, you never worry about missing a book added later. So what the hell are you waiting for? Get in on the action and get your slice of the bundle of holding and get in on some of the old school gaming among the Stars Without Number today! The clock is ticking and you've only got three days and some change to get in on the action!
