OSR Commentary & Reskinning of D3 Vault of the Drow By Gary Gygax

 As a member of a bold party of adventurers, you and your associates have trekked far into what seems to be a whole underworld of subterranean tunnels -- arteries connecting endless caves and caverns which honeycomb the foundations of the lands beneath the sun. Your expedition has dogged the heels of the Dark Elves who caused great woe and then fled underground

This blog post fills in some of what we talked about the last blog entry. Here we finally get the full threat of the Drow & their works that we see in this Gary Gygax classic. Gygax's writing & flexiblity is on full throttle in this tournament style model.  And we get the full extent of the underworld of D3 Vault of The Drow here. And since we're pickup from last blog post these are Myrkálfar straight out of Norse mythology & legend twisted by super science of space gods eons ago. We see this in the Myrkálfar's god  Atlach-Nacha.  Reskinning the Drow means that Atlach-Nacha's cult is going to be front & center throughout the module. The Drow's manipulation of the surface's Lovecraftian races is going to be fully exposed. 

And the alien nature of the Drow whose relation back to the surface world's Arthur Machan's White People is going to pretty evident. The Myrkálfar's god  Atlach-Nacha whose been brain washing people from the upperworld for eons. Possibly turning them into more of the Myrkálfar for the purpose of eventual invasion of the surface world. 

And this invasion promise works in the Myrkálfar's favor as the fire giants rush to thier banner. Because of the fact that  they see the springing up of cults across the planet. This ties back into A.Merritt's 'Moon Pool' & the caches of alien technologies from 'The Metal Monster'. 

The fire giants have been enslaving the various giant factions over the centuries after the events of Ragnarok on Hyperborea. And now with the Deep One push because of the events of the first part of D1-2. Things heat up because all of this  connects in with events from The Mystery At Port Greely. Why?! Because the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons version of Earth & Hyperborea are ripe for exploitation by the powers that be. The events depicted in D1-2 Descent Into The Depths of the Earth mark the adventurers passage from one set of events in the chain into another if they survive the experience. 

 D3 Vault of the Drow By Gary Gygax presents the next evolution in this chain of events marking it up and into a possible resolution. This is only the beginning of what set's up a possible invasion for Hyperborea with a multi sided war. And we're going to look at how & why it would be solid campaign. 

OSR Commmentary & Reskinning Of D1-2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth By Gary Gygax

 "The final confrontation with the giant, King Snurre, and the entry of mighty adventurers into the cavers under his stronghold discovered that Dark Elves, the Drow, had instigated the giant alliance and its warfare upon mankind and its allied races."

Another one of those classic modules by Gary Gygax that shows the genius and flexibility of the father of Dungeons & Dragons.. ""Shrine of the Kuo-Toa," the second adventure in this collection, was used as part of the D&D tournament at GenCon XI (1978)." What we're really dealing with is a solid exploration and tournament style adventure. Violence is not always the answer with Descent Into The Depths of Earth & mixing & matching campaign elements doesn't take away from this classic module in the least.


Let's begin by changing the Kuo-Toa to Deep Ones which gets in more in tune with the Clark Ashton Smith vibe & HP Lovecraft. There's a certain amount of the Hyperborean cycle within D1-2 with its foul verminous humanoids and Deep One style monsters. The inclusion of  D2: "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa" (1978) gives the whole affair a foulness that sometimes seems to overwhelm the whole affair of the adventure which reminds me of HP Lovecraft's Shadows over Innsmouth.  Originally the Drow were mysterious and merely a legend mentioned in the Monster Manual for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Here in Descent into The Depths of the Earth their fully realized. I want them back to being weird, twisted, and completely dangerous beings of myth & legend. How can I accomplish this with my limited schedule? Well fortunately Gavin Norman has done the Complete Vivimancer.


Suddenly the Drow are far closer to the bio engineering terrorist nation of Cobra la and less of the fetish & leather crowd that players of later editions seem to love. Yeah that's much better and keeps things rolling along onto my  'Old Earth ' setting. So what exactly are the Drow now? These are Myrkálfar straight out of Norse mythology & legend twisted by super science of space gods eons ago. We see this in the Myrkálfar's god  Atlach-Nacha lair later on.

Artwork used without permission from here
Ropers, Umber Hulks, & many of the iconic monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fit into alien and artificial breeding aspect laid out in this module. All of this ties back into the ideas of A.Merritt & Arthur Machen where the underworld is truly alien which is closer in keeping with the Underborea of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea then the Underdark of AD&D's later books. All of these are factions in the inner Earth's various underworld adventure locations. This ties back into A.Merritt's 'Moon Pool' & the caches of alien technologies from 'The Metal Monster'. 



All of this ties back in with the planet Cykranosh (or Saturn as we know it today) & with Tsathoggua. Whose machinations have been spinning for centuries leading the fire giants & Myrkálfar alliance. This leads into events happening on Hyperborea where the Deep Ones are beginning their push again for dominance of the land. This connects in with events from The Mystery At Port Greely!

Various caves, caverns, etc of the underworld have ruins & dimensional gate ways that lead off world across the planets & only the gods know where. The events depicted in D1-2 Descent Into The Depths of the Earth could be signaling that the stars are coming right as inhuman powers move the hands of the clock closer and closer.

OSR Review & Commentary - Hitting The Trails With Mark Hunt's Tall Tails B/X Wild West For A B/X Wild West Campaigns

"Have you ever wished to ride in the old west? To be part of the thrilling days of yesteryear? Well, this is your chance. Well, not you but a pretend you, a character you portray while you play the game.  Just as an Actor would play a part in a Western Movie, you play a character set in the Old west. Your character is in a game world that is both a historical setting and a fantasy setting at the same time, with its legends and tall tales mixed with the finest traditional Spaghetti Westerns.  As a Character in this world you can perform deeds of valor, riches, ruin and redemption. You as the player may find the game world is both familiar and foreign at the same time, raw, savage and waiting to be tamed."

Do you want a Wild West game that can be added into the long desert trails of the Basic or Expert Dungeons & Dragons campaign? Perhaps a time lost gun fighter or a lone scout of the Wild West. This game slots right into the Basic Dungeons & Dragons  game system with little to no fan fare.



This game brings home the feel of the old West hard & dangerous the way the West should be. I bought this game last night because Tall Tails B/X Wild West  was on sale for $1.99! 

Mark Hunt quietly develops games & supplements by himself without Kickstarter or much fanfare. But don't let that fool you Mark has been a veteran designer of the game industry for many years. This brings me to Tall Tails B/X Wild West this game clocks in at around ninety six pages. I've been friends with Mark Hunt for many years now but its time to hit the back paths of gunslingers, low-down desperadoes, singing cowboys or snake oil salesmen which are the actual PC classes of this low down twisted game of gun fights, exploration, & there's a feel of the Old West Pulps here. The rpg  system is primed to B/X OSR  Dungeons & Dragons purely. There's just enough material here to give the players & the DM enough to get started in their own version of the Old West. Lots of good use of public domain Old Western artwork & the layout is readable very nicely done for the eyes. The game is very much in the cut & dry B/X Dungeons & Dragons style.

Tall Tails B/X Wild West covers everything from designing a home base domain town or location to a wild west ranch spread very important aspect for adventurers, outlaws, & Northern green horns;
"More than just a collection of ramshackle buildings where dusty cowboys blew off steam before getting back on the trail, or a backdrop to a show down, towns in the Old West played in important part in developing the frontier. Towns served as transport waypoints, financial hubs, communication centers, and helped provide goods, serves, and entertainment" Hunt understands the importance of having the PC's party stretch into their element. Case in point is the adversaries section here's one of the most dangerous foes a group of PC's can run across an NPC gun fighter; "Legendary Gunman

This is one of the many deadly gunmen that roamed the old west. 

"Human Gunslinger: HD 6; AC 0; Atk 2 weapon (1d8); Move 120’; Save 13; AL N; XP 750; Special: +2 to hit in in a showdown. +6 initiative. " Everything here is easily understood & applable to both OSR & old school games. This is very important for DM's looking to add elements of the Old West to their games. But there's additional material to go with Tall Tales BX Wild West RPG New classes is a 'pay what you want' add on for Tall Tails B/X Wild West.  Its seven essential pages of PC classes that adds in three new classes: the Gambler, the Preacher and the lawman. These are solid classes that any fan of the Western genre knows exactly what these classes can do & how to put them to use as a player or dungeon master. This is an OSR system  like B/X Essentials by Gavin Norman & like Norman's systems BX Wild West RPG New classes  is a core add on to have. This is a must pdf if you intend to run this system. 

Already I can hear the laughter but if we want to add in D&D elements its gonna be an issue? What if Frank Mentzer did all of the hard work for you and all of the heavy lifting?! Not only can you use B/X Essentials but you could with a bit of old school effort grab your trusty Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia there's all the monsters you'll ever need! Aaron Allston, &  Frank Mentzer have done all of the heavy lifting for you & with the  Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia you've got years of Old West campaign play. 



Now I've heard from different folks that many of these OSR retroclone system are not OGL well  Tall Tails B/X Wild West isn't one of those; "All artwork, proper names, logos, and presentation are product identity. The names “Tall Tales” and “B/X Western Tall Tales” are product identity. All text not declared as Open Game Content is product identity.

DESIGNATION OF OPEN GAME CONTENT

All text and tables in the following sections are Open Game Content: ability scores, sequence of play, adventuring rules, basic combat procedure, other combat issues, standard combat charts, potions. OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a" Which means that already outfits like Surreal Estate Games have created basic Wild West adventures titles like Tumbleweed Tales Volume 1 by Robert Garitta fills that gap nicely. We'll be reviewing this set of adventures soon enough. But your ready to Country & Western your way across the B/X West!

 But this isn't the only Basic Dungeons & Dragons style OSR options which applies to  Tall Tails B/X Wild West. There's also Dark Dungeons by Blacky the Blackball which can be used with Tall Tails B/X Wild West. These two used together allow the dungeon master to give a much more OSR feel to their Wild West adventures and includes the rules for Spelljammer style ships! 


Because of the way that Tall Tails B/X Wild West is set up its a solid OSR Wild West tool kit that provides the DM & his or her players with a solid Wild West game. The clean design & layout are a hall mark of OSR design Mark Hunt has a winner on his hands like his own version of  the Gang Busters Rpg. 

OSR Round Up News With Venger Satanis, Rpg Pundit, & Money Blood Designs & Gavin Norman

Right now I'm super hot and its because I've got the flu & I'm ganked up with all kinds of cold medicine. But there's been a few developments out in the OSR hobby. First of all +Venger Satanis has a brand new Kickstarter up & I agreed months ago to help promote it. Why?! Well Venger is a real life friend & I agree to do weird stuff at times.

"Are you Alpha Blue curious, spacer? I've launched a new Kickstarter, Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars. It'll melt in her mouth... and in her hands/tentacles, as well" He's doing his Battle Star Galactica, Star Trek, Star Wars in with Alpha Blue. And more power to em.

The second thing that's going on is a bit of a mix up/glitch on the part of Rpgnow for 'Lion & Dragon' from +Kasimir Urbanski  & +Dominique Crouzet.
So what is Lion & Dragon? Well its a medieval authentic OSR system which takes place in a very twisted  real life magical setting. But this sounds like Dark Albion to me. Well its not. First this is a completely different setting a 'more historically authentic medieval experience, to reflect the grittier and yet more mythic world of a magical medieval Europe.' According to the real Rpgnow link.

The material is essentially mostly OSR system compatible and easily converts to your favorite retroclone system even thought the entire game is a stand alone system on its own.
The sections  on alchemy, herbal medicines, poisons, or law & justice, the magick system could easily be ported over to your home campaign in spades.



Do I actually own the game? No I'm waiting till I have the after Christmas money to get it. I like to support the smaller OSR publishers. If you don't believe me then check out Kenny Johnson's video review and flip through.

The third reason for this post is because +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal)  is going to be expanding the Midderlands OSR mini setting on Kickstarter. If your not familiar with the Midderlands setting its like the good part of White Dwarf's Dungeons & Dragons material set in a Medieval Period back water mini setting with all of its own history, monsters, weather, etc. It can also be uses for running 'Lion & Dragon' as a drag & drop setting for the game without breaking the bank.
 

It could potentially be used with the Dolmwood setting in Wormskin by +Gavin Norman  & it would work like a charm with some adjustment on the dungeon master's part. Because of the modular nature of the campaign setting DM's can adjust and move adventure locations & systems as necessary.

The focus of this whole affair could be the Hundred Years War is the perfect historical campaign fodder for this style of campaign. If you want to connect Lion & Dragon with Dark Albion, it would be quite easy to run this campaign during the lead up to when everything changes in Dark Albion or real world history.

"The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois, rulers of the Kingdom of France, over the succession to the French throne. Each side drew many allies into the war. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe. The war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries."

So not only do you have a tailor made historical conflict but a real world event that could take years to play through. But there's no extra support for Lion & Dragon rpg?! Wrong there's a ton of support in the form of the RpgPundit Presents titles. From Dragon corpses magical properties to further books of occult esoteric weirdness  to high tech weapons. He's got it all covered & much more.

All of these are fully compatible with Lion & Dragon rpg system & will provide your players with nightmares for years to come.

But now there's been a new wrinkle in the mix according to  RpgPundit ;"The saga continues and RPGnow has screwed me over yet again. With another "accident" or "mistake" that rendered useless every single link I spent all day yesterday posting. But I'm not done yet."

Review & Commentary On B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment From Necrotic Gnome Productions For Your Old School Campaigns

So Gavin Norman is at it again with the second in the B/X Essentials series, this time he's tackling PC classes & equipment in 'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment'.
The pdf only clocks in at forty four pages but distills down the essence & spirit of B/X Dungeons & Dragons down to its components with style, grace, & some excellent artwork throughout. The layout is up to the standard that we saw in the first installment of the series, 'B/X Essentials: Core Rules. '

If you want to check out the rules for both titles there are no artwork versions of both
'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment' &   'B/X Essentials: Core Rules ' available. Everything here is boiled down into its full soul of the B/X rules whist retaining all of the good solid system that will please even the hardcore B/X Dungeons & Dragons addict such as myself. All of your favorite PC classes are here along with some nifty editing to round out & rarefy the system kinks. The whole is more then the sum of its parts allowing players to deal with the only the essentials of the Basic D&D system.


The layout is well done and everything seems very top draw with efforts on the author's part to keep the whole of its parts running in a smooth & sustained style for easy of play at the table. The author/designer has smoothed away some of the play ambiguities of earlier editions & clarified the whole for a quick & easy style of old school system. Mr.Norman let's the audience know where & when he's chosen his rulings with this book. The layout is well rounded enabling the reader to grasp the system easily and with a full flourish for old school play.
There is some solid artwork throughout the product but I really wish that one or two items featured in the artwork were available in the equipment but I have a feeling those will be in the monsters & treasures book. So what can be done with 'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment'? Well a few things since there are clarifications, edits, etc. throughout the book old school system play is going to be quicker & easier at the table top.
Also the B/X Essential line is open game content enabling DM's to publish their own add ons for the system making this a true retroclone in every sense of the word. It also means that if someone doesn't have access to B/X Dungeons & Dragons these titles are going to be the next best thing.



This also means that all of the old favorites of old school play such as fighter, magic user, cleric, & thief are available for quick set up & play but with a campaign setting of the dungeon master's creation. The Essentials line is perfect for plug & play with other B/X style retroclone adventures that are already on the market. I can already hear the nay sayers on the fact that the OSR doesn't need another retroclone system & product line on the market. But this is a bit different with it being several cuts above the run of the mill material already on the OSR market. But is 'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment' necessary? In a word I think its a vital product to bring to the OSR market because its a true retroclone in both spirit & content.
The content here is top drawer quality in my opinion and this is one not to pass up. The production quality, editing, and solid presentation is very well done. I'd give this a five stars and there are already others who agree with my assessment.
There's a lulu publishing version of the B/X Essentials core rules out now. 
If your a fan of Gavin Norman's Necrotic Gnome productions and creations then you owe it to yourself to grab a copy of   'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment'.
Solidly done, easy to use, and a pleasure to have at the table,
'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment' is a five out of five product to dive into & solve that B/X Dungeons & Dragons itch in a low cost, clearly defined, edited, and solidly presented way!

You Can Grab
'B/X Essentials Classes & Equipment'
Right Here!

OSR Commmentary & Reskinning Of D1-2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth By Gary Gygax

"The final confrontation with the giant, King Snurre, and the entry of mighty adventurers into the cavers under his stronghold discovered that Dark Elves, the Drow, had instigated the giant alliance and its warfare upon mankind and its allied races."

Another one of those classic modules by Gary Gygax that shows the genius and flexibility of the father of Dungeons & Dragons.. ""Shrine of the Kuo-Toa," the second adventure in this collection, was used as part of the D&D tournament at GenCon XI (1978)." What we're really dealing with is a solid exploration and tournament style adventure. Violence is not always the answer with Descent Into The Depths of Earth & mixing & matching campaign elements doesn't take away from this classic module in the least.


Let's begin by changing the Kuo-Toa to Deep Ones which gets in more in tune with the Clark Ashton Smith vibe & HP Lovecraft. There's a certain amount of the Hyperborean cycle within D1-2 with its foul verminous humanoids and Deep One style monsters. The inclusion of  D2: "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa" (1978) gives the whole affair a foulness that sometimes seems to overwhelm the whole affair of the adventure which reminds me of HP Lovecraft's Shadows over Innsmouth.  Originally the Drow were mysterious and merely a legend mentioned in the Monster Manual for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Here in Descent into The Depths of the Earth their fully realized. I want them back to being weird, twisted, and completely dangerous beings of myth & legend. How can I accomplish this with my limited schedule? Well fortunately Gavin Norman has done the Complete Vivimancer.


Suddenly the Drow are far closer to the bio engineering terrorist nation of Cobra la and less of the fetish & leather crowd that players of later editions seem to love. Yeah that's much better and keeps things rolling along onto my  'Old Earth ' setting. So what exactly are the Drow now? These are Myrkálfar straight out of Norse mythology & legend twisted by super science of space gods eons ago. We see this in the Myrkálfar's god  Atlach-Nacha lair later on.

Artwork used without permission from here
Ropers, Umber Hulks, & many of the iconic monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fit into alien and artificial breeding aspect laid out in this module. All of this ties back into the ideas of A.Merritt & Arthur Machen where the underworld is truly alien which is closer in keeping with the Underborea of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea then the Underdark of AD&D's later books. All of these are factions in the inner Earth's various underworld adventure locations. This ties back into A.Merritt's 'Moon Pool' & the caches of alien technologies from 'The Metal Monster'. 



All of this ties back in with the planet Cykranosh (or Saturn as we know it today) & with Tsathoggua. Whose machinations have been spinning for centuries leading the fire giants & Myrkálfar alliance. This leads into events happening on Hyperborea where the Deep Ones are beginning their push again for dominance of the land. This connects in with events from The Mystery At Port Greely!

Various caves, caverns, etc of the underworld have ruins & dimensional gate ways that lead off world across the planets & only the gods know where. The events depicted in D1-2 Descent Into The Depths of the Earth could be signaling that the stars are coming right as inhuman powers move the hands of the clock closer and closer.

Review & Commentary On B/X Essentials: Core Rules From Necrotic Gnome Productions

So I received an email last night from Gavin Norman with my sparkling copy of B/X Essentials. Straight up I asked to for a copy for review and boy I surprised at the fact straight out of the gate that its only thirty seven pages long. This really is a boiled down version of B/X Dungeons & Dragons in retroclone form. Right out of the gate The author states exactly what his intent is;
"My love for Basic/Expert-style fantasy adventuring was reignited with the publication of  Labyrinth Lord and the rise of the old-school renaissance / whatever-you-like-to-call-it.   Over the years, I’ve run all sorts of campaigns with the Basic/Expert rules— everything from classic dungeon hacks, to dying Earth science
fantasy, to Lovecraft-inspired, Victorian age horror. Of course, all these campaigns have
added their own twists to the rules: alternate classes, new spells, monsters, equipment,
treasures, and so on. Nonetheless, the core rules of the game remained constant. And I think that’s the real treasure of the Basic/ Expert rules: their timeless elegance, concision,
and very wide (I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say universal) applicability. Through all these years of play, though, what I’ve always missed is a cleanly presented, easy-to-reference rendition of the core rules of the game separated from the associated “accoutrements”—the classes, spells, monsters,
magic items, etc. Neither the original Basic/Expert books nor the various modern clones exactly satisfy this requirement. That’s what this book is about."
But does it succeed in its mission of boiling down everything in the B/X Dungeons & Dragons Basic & Expert rules into its quintessential form? Yes but that's not everything that B/X Essentials does. The mission statement goes like this:

• 100% accurate rules clone. B/X Essentials, unlike other clones or games inspired by B/X, goes to great efforts to be 100% accurate to the original. Nothing is altered. Nothing is added. Nothing is removed.
• Organized for quick reference. The text of B/X Essentials is consciously kept concise and is broken into logical chunks, each with a header, making quick reference possible. I believe this is the clearest expression of the Basic/Expert rules available to date.
• Clarified rules. The original rules are delightfully straightforward, but there certainly exist areas of confusion and ambiguity. (Check out the rules for encumbrance or wilderness chases, for example.) B/X Essentials presents greatly clarified descriptions of these rules.

These rules are the essential systems for B/X Dungeons & Dragons nothing more or less. They are the combined Basic & Expert D&D systems boiled right down to their essence and its done right in my humble opinion.  Is it better then Holmes or Mentzer? No, its a good set of both edits in one system.



But the best part about this product is the following :

"100% Open Game Content. In addition to a fancy, fully illustrated print / PDF edition, the B/X Essentials rules will be released in a simple text format licensed as 100% Open Game Content (under the OGL). The fresh expression of the B/X rules can thus be freely used by other people for the creation of their own house rules documents and B/X-inspired games."

This is one of the places where the OSR excels at by creating a set of rules open for others to create their own game material and settings to put into the OSR but its also a bane because of the sometimes lack of oversight. But this is the drawback with any open game content OSR retroclones but shrug that comes with the territory.

Does B/X Essentials succeed in its mission? I think over all it does exactly what it properts to be a 100% boiled down reference set of rules that has the Gavin Norman style of  'meat & potatoes' approach to the rules. This is where I'm familiar with how the author works in his game design choices and its something we've seen before in Wormskin with Greg Gorgonmilk. Take the high road with the choices but deal with the hard & fast regardless of design conceits. Necrotic Gnome has done this before but its not a bad thing. The quality of rules are here in B/X Essentials and it shows.


Here rules are combined & straightened out without altering the flavor, the essence, and intent in my opinion of the originals. Sure its a new coat of paint but its one with all of the bumps and creases taken out from the material. This means there's enough here to run a campaign but its a set of rules that applies across the board. How does this compare with other retroclones on the market currently? There are choices here that make B/X Essentials stand on its own. And that's the way it should be in my opinion. Over that means that purists are going find little to 'bitch' about but there will be some as always. What I was surprised at was the artwork in the B/X Essential rules set. Its very nice and layout is very well done. The material is easily accessible and its true that everything here works for a B/X addict like me. Overall the effort in my humble opinion is five out of five. There will be a follow up book B/X Essentials: Classes and Equipment so B/X Essentials is exactly what it claims to be the essential rules for B/X.
There is a No Art Work Version available for free here Print editions coming soon! People who purchase the PDF edition will be sent a voucher to upgrade to the print edition, when it becomes available.



The B/X Essentials Paid Version With artwork
is available right here for five dollars for a 37 page PDF full
of great artwork!

OSR Commentary On Necrotic Gnome's 'B/X Essentials' Project For Your Old School Retroclone Systems

 I have a long & storied history with Necrotic Gnome products but Gavin Norman's new project it hits close to home some might say their essentially some of the essence of B/X Dungeons & Dragons. Let's take a closer look.

So while everyone else is all excited about GenCon 50, I've been quietly watching Necrotic Gnome's latest efforts with B/X Essentials. This is Gavin Norman's The City of Iron's blog fame reworking of B/X Dungeons & Dragons.

B/X Essentials is Gavin Norm's reworking of the B/X Dungeons & Dragons rules into retroclone form so that they'll be a bit more open to the OSR audience as a whole. There's lots of stuff already happening with this project. But why is this being done & how will it differ from B/X Dungeons & Dragons ? According to the official word from Necrotic Gnome,"How does B/X Essentials compare to the original B/X books? The main (and major!) difference is that the rules for Basic and Expert play are combined, rather than being split across two books. Also, as mentioned above, B/X Essentials is written as a quick reference, presenting a clarified and better organized presentation of the rules."
How is this on the whole compare with the Labyrinth Lord retroclone system? Gavin Norman's done a lot with Labyrinth Lord so colour me curious, "How does B/X Essentials compare to Labyrinth Lord? LL also presents a restatement of the classic B/X rules, however its text is, in many places, far too verbose and meandering to be really useful as a quick reference. Also, as noted above, B/X Essentials is a 100% accurate clone whereas Labyrinth Lord introduces several changes to the rules. In B/X Essentials, clerics do not get a spell at 1st level!"  You can find out more over here folks. 

As a LL & BX Dungeons & Dragons fan  for years now I'm dying to see how & what changes are going to be coming.


So when is the B/X Essentinals going to hit the shelves in the wilds of the OSR? Official word is that sometime in September 2017. The interesting thing is going to be the format for me, "The primary format is US Trade (6"x9") paperback (perfect- or staple-bound) with a fully-linked PDF. So, yes, this is a small form factor presentation of the B/X rules! The Open Game Content rules will also be provided in a simple text format." So its going to be simple & easy to digest this is going to be a plus for me.
Today's Encumbrance rules preview came out of the blue and there's artwork from by Thomas Novosel. The layout clean, its easy to read, and there's actually some real changes worked in. So this is very interesting from a DM's perspective. Because you're seeing things from the ground up here. Gavin goes into the deeper reasons for this here


So yeah to say I'm watching this with interest is an understatement. Why? Well there's lots of reasons but mainly I love the simplicity of what I've seen so far from the B/X Essentials project & the ideas that the author/designer is putting forth. Plus its nice to see a solid degree of transparency in the choices that the author is making. I trust the choices that I've so far seen by Gavin Norman.  So for a Sunday keep em rolling folks!

Review & Commentary On Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition From Necrotic Gnome Productions For Labyrinth Lord & Your Old School D&D Systems

There are a few OSR  authors whose work I automatically gravitate towards but Gavin Norman is definitely on the short end of the list. When he comes out with The Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition book, I knew I had to have a copy of it right away. This is one of those essential OSR books that comes out without a kickstarter or any fanfare yet its definitely a title that your going to want.


So what makes this book different from other OSR player character  guides & character building kits; instead this is a book that offers the tools for a specific set of OSR PC's. We get a complete overview and inside look into the Elementalist including expanded spell lists, special practices, items, and much more. Here the material creates a well rounded look into the weird world and very dangerous practices of these masters of the elemental arts. The layout is easy to read & the material flows together nicely so that we get a good picture of these masters of the elemental arts. This book greatly expands and clarifies the elementalist as a complete PC class and it also gives some amazing new magic items and a dimension of weirdness to the class.
The classic necromancer is back and it means business; this is a nasty version of the traditional necromancer capable of harnassing the black forces of the after world for the creation of undead and much worse. This is a chip off of the undead horror of the traditional necrotic cast of many old school campaigns. "The necromancer spell list is largely unchanged. I moved a couple of spells (detach/graft and organ transference) to the vivimancer, as they felt more fitting there." this means that many old favorites are still there but things have been stripped down and the old school themes have been heightened in some of the spell lists.


There are several pieces of artwork that are scattered throughout the book by Russ Nicholson and many others lending the book an old school to the art. The rest of the book taps into the Vivamancer which is one of the backbone PC classes in the book. "The vivimancer spell list has been updated to correspond with the list in The Complete Vivimancer. For example, the spell vats of creation is now 3rd level, rather than 7th, as it was in the original Theorems & Thaumaturgy. I don't think I added any new spells." Finally rounding out the book a magic item's section. "All three classes now have a dedicated magic items section, containing 8 items each. For the necromancer, this is no change, but for the elementalist and vivimancer, this means... 8 new items (there were no elementalist or vivimancer magic items in the original edition). (A side-effect of this reorganization is that the few magic items which aren't related to one of the three classes are no longer included.)" 
The lay out of  Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised is easy to read & use at the table; the text is clear & so is the column spacing. Everything works very well for the reader. All of the material focuses and is concentrated on the three main class this includes the magic items, spells, and background material.



The last section goes into sixteen new monsters all centered around the classes and background material as a complement to the material already present within T&T Revised. There's a feeling of pent up menace about these monsters almost as if they might spring into action any moment within your dungeon or ruins.

All in all I was reminded of some of the independent old school third party D&D products working my way through  Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised tonight. The design work was tight, the ideas well thought out, and the read through a pleasure. But would I actually use the material in  Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised? In a word yes, because everything in the book has been trimmed and dedicated to their PC classes presented within the book. The replay value is solid & well done making this a book that can be used in the creation of NPC's and worse for parties of adventurers going up against such dangerous weirdos. The Vivimancer, has been reworked into a completely useful PC class that is going to give anyone who comes across it a run for their money. I really love what's been done to the elementalist. All in all I love the direction that Gavin Norman has taken Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised.



All in all I think that Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition is well worth your time and your money. There should be a print version of the book coming out very soon. This is a great book to add to your Labryth Lord collection and its one that will add another extra dimension to your old school games. Because of the concentration on the three character classes and the fleshing out of the material there's lots of potential for plenty of old school gaming with this book.
You can grab Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition From Necrotic Gnome Productions Right Over Here

Review & Commentary On The B/X Rogue From Necrotic Gnome Productions For Your Old School Campaigns

I received a copy of B/X Rogue from a friend just as I was wrapping up a leg of writing on a new campaign, more on that later. B/X Rogue is a new Gavin Norman title that takes the thief and defines the PC class in new ways. The book clocks in at about twenty six pages of old school goodness. Gavin is incharge of the City of Iron blog and clocks in some damn fine titles such as the Complete Vivmancer and the crowd sourced Free OSR adventure From the Vats . He is also the man whose put out one of my all time favorite B/X pay what you want PC expansion class books Theorems & Thaumaturgy.
So when B/X Rogue hit the stands today I contacted a friend to grab this title and let me take a look at it right away.  So colour me intrigued, and very happy to have another variation on one of my favorite PC's classes at the table. BX Rogue does quite a bit different, this blurb from the City of Iron blog really intrigued me
GRAB IT RIGHT  HERE

"More than simply a thief, the rogue class has access to talents drawn from a wide array of archetypes, all integrated into a single class. Scouts & spies, burglars & tomb robbers, charlatans & con-artists, swashbucklers & explorers, brigands & highwaymen, assassins & thugs. No need for all of those specialized sub-classes any more!"
Now given that sort of a claim I could see what B/X Rogue was trying to do? But then the second part really caught me by surprise.
Within these pages you will discover:

1. Complete advancement tables for levels 1 to 20
2. 36 adventuring talents
3. Themed packages of talents for a quick start into the game
4. Guidelines for other classes attempting roguish feats
5. Rules for song magic and dabbling in arcane secrets
   Right out of the gate we've got an expansion of the levels of the class and boat load of brand new adventuring talents. And that really is one of the chief things I love about this version of the Rogue. Besides being able to use ALL weapons they have a range of skills that really makes them much more customized. According to the book;The chief aptitude of rogues is the plethora of highly specialized skills of dexterity, stealth, intrigue, infiltration, and cunning that they are able to learn. These are known collectively as talents . The following section lists dozens of talents which a rogue may learn over his or her career, beginning at 1st level with four, as chosen by the player, and gaining one more talent per experience level gained. (For players who do not wish to spend time browsing the complete library random tables and quick-start selections of talents are provided later.)
   Talents allow the players to customize the rogue to their vision of the character and the niche of where the PC is going to fall within the bounds of the party. From a simple pick pocket to an acrobatic assassin B/X Rogue allows for this and more.
   Examples of  talents include Awareness
   Your honed reactions and instinctual awareness of danger make it difficult for
   enemies to sneak up on you. When surprise is rolled, you are only surprised on
   a roll of 1 (instead of 1-2, like other characters).
   Gavin has a great knowledge of the Basic system and the talents system is a nice fit for  just this sort of an application. Take for example Climb Rock Face, a quick and easy talent that can turn a simple thief into a movie style assassin scaling up the sides of cliff faces.
   Climb Rock Faces
   When lightly encumbered, you can climb rough rock faces unaided, with a successful
   DEX check. You can climb less treacherous surfaces without a check. And another thing lurking in the background is the idea of being able to have occult based talents that dovetail into the idea of the magician style thief. Something that has come down to us from the pages of sword and sorcery novels and comic books. Like the assassin its right there in the talents lurking for the dungeon master to approve the matter as they see fit for their own game campaigns. This section dovetails into the next bit quite nicely.
   Magical Talents get's its own section as a PC  option with the Detect Magic talent, and the ever intriguing spell song abilities thrown in for good measure. Spell songs are not complicated concepts and plug into the bard being brethren to the Rogue. A concept I've seen used a couple of times over the years in various game products but this product's explanation of the spell song is straight forward, concise and well thought out ; "You have learned and mastered an enchanted song which you can sing or play on an instrument once per day to magical effect. (This talent presupposes a level of musical skill, with either vocals or one or more instruments" There are rules for the application and casting of this style of magic and spell song spell lists included within it.  There are even archetype PC class style kits included, these are not clunky and ill thought out. These are concise pieces of game design that includes everything a player needs straight out of the gate. All of this comes under the  "Quick-Start Talent Selection". There's even a random talents section that rounds the entire package out.
   
   
   In point of fact this book could be used to create Rogues of all calibers for space based science fiction games, scavengers & assassins for   post apocalyptic hell holes, sword and sorcery religious fanatic cut throats, and even inter planar highwaymen. The limit is really your imagination because of the set up of this product.
   The B/X Rogue is hands down one of the best products I've seen for creating a B/X Rogue that you want as a player or to create an off the cuff NPC rogue, thief, assassin, highwayman or other criminal of the underworld.  I give B/X Rogues a five out of five. I should also mention that I love the black and white artwork that evocates a certain old school something within the pages. It adds a feeling of looking through a mimeographed old school fanzine.