OSR Commentary D100 Minor Magical Items By Shane Ward 'A Pay What You Want' Title From 3 Toadstools Publishing For Your Old School Campaigns

 Magical one use items are a well established within the bounds of fantasy role playing. "Need a quick magical item? Something not to deadly? All of these rather entertaining magical items are one shots.  ie one charge! The table is based on Old School rules and magic and should work for most Old School Systems." 

D100 Minor Magical Items By Shane Ward From 3 Toadstools is a solid alternatives for the dungeon master who wants a minor magic item for their campaign or  adventure. This pay what you want title clocks in at five pages of solid OSR content. Easy to use & throw into the back end of your game.  Have an abandoned wizard's tower or magic user bolt hole then D100 Minor Magical Items By Shane Ward  is perfect to add into the campaign mix. 
Some of these items are far more powerful then they appear & that's a feature not a design flaw in D100 Minor Magical Items. There's enough variety here to keep the mix interesting for the players. 
D100 Minor Magical Items is perfect to add to Greyhawk out in the middle of nowhere as treasure for a ruined wizard's tower or castle. For Adventurer, Conqeuror, King, rpg these minor magic items could be used as change up for a hoard. Or as minor gifts between rulers or kings for the PC's or too them. 
They could be used as minor treasures in Castles & Crusades that have been lost to time when magic was much more common. Or even as Fey treasures where they have come over from the realms of the Fey. 

D100 Minor Magical Items By Shane Ward  'A Pay What You Want'  Title From 3 Toadstools For Your Old School Campaigns

A Fresh Look At The 'Pay What You Want' Caverns Of Ugard One Shot By Shane Ward From 3 Toadstools As Low Level Adventure Campaign Catalyst

"The name Ugard is notorious with pain and fear!  Thru-out the surrounding lands Ugard and his minions threaten, bully and extort money and lives.  The vile Minotaur is holed up in some caves on the outskirts of town.  This OSR compatible one page dungeon can easily be placed into any campaign for a night of fun!  Compatible with Labyrinth Lord (TM)"



Last night I took sometime to look for a low level one shot dungeon that could be played in one night. In point of fact looking for something not complicated has been fun but there is a serious derth of low level one shots that could act as introductory adventures for original Dungeons & Dragons or B/X style games. The Caverns Of Ugard From  3 Toadstools by Shane Ward looks like its gonna fill that niche nicely. This is one page, one shot dungeon that looks like it could act as a solid introduction to a retro  fantasy campaign. 

For low level & beginning characters this looks like a pay what you want introductory one shot this is really important for a beginning level player's PC. I have reviewed this one shot dungeon before but I'm looking at this through the lens of a beginning dungeon master. The cartography is clear & the layout crisp. The real question is the drag & drop quality of this adventure right into a campaign is definitely one of the assets of this adventure.

With a bit of work The Caverns Of Ugard could be used for an Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign in some backwater village. Or the same thing could be said for using it as a side quest adventure for an existing campaign.  For B/X Dungeons & Dragons this is a nice little evening one shot that could parlay itself into a full on campaign if coupled with say B2 Keep on the Borderlands


The idea here is that the game session events of  The Caverns Of Ugard for shadow B2 Keep on the Borderland. Damage, fatigue, & what not from the dungeon may take their toll from the one shot dungeon. The low level PC's get their collective asses handed to them in the Caverns but get a rest only to come across the events of the keep & its Caves of Chaos. There are several reasons why this works instead of the usual throw the party into B2 Keep on the Borderlands events: 

1. The events of the keep are not simply isolated at all. The random encounters of B2 point to this.  The Caverns Of Ugard as an adventure location can highlight this to the players.  
2. The forces of the caverns woven into the frame work of B2 give the DM plenty of ammo to get a campaign started. 
3. Simple & easy make the play shine & the players will fill in the rest believe me as a dungeon master. 
4. One shots are a good way of easing into low level play for beginning players. 
5. Dungeons & Dragons seems to lack campaign cohesion & the The Caverns Of Ugard can act as a solid glue to stick all of this together. 
6. Evidence of a cult can be peppered into The Caverns Of Ugard so the Caves of Chaos flows more organically. 
7. Humanoid forces should be very dangerous as random encounters in this sort of set up. 
8. Low level one shot dungeons give the DM lots of latitude to work with newbie players. 
9. This sort of set up gives the DM plenty of ammo to set up adventures like T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil later on.
10. This is a good self contained dungeon that can branch out into a workable OSR or old school campaign. 

Commentary on The Free OSR Adveture Resource For The Blue Holmes Rpg System - An Invitation From The Blue Baron From 3 Toad Stools & Various Hands

So as I'm working at full speed behind the scenes here at Casa De Fabiaschi  to get my Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game off the ground at another venue. A free collaborative dungeon for Blue Holmes has rear its head by Shane Ward and company for "The Blue Holmes" retroclone systyem.
Grab "An Invitation From The Blue Baron". Written for Blueholme Rules. Contributing Authors in no particular order are:
+Tim Shorts +Michael Thomas +Olde House Rules +matt jackson +Thaumiel Nerub +James V West +Dyson Logos +Michael Wenman +Goblins Henchman +Steve C +Mike Evans +Venger Satanis 

"A bit of disturbing news has crossed my desk.  It seems that a plot may in fact be a foot.  While I would like to detail all of the information within this letter, I would prefer to speak with you in person.  A fortnight from today, please meet me on the stairs leading to the dungeons of the Blue Baron.  I hazard to guess that you haven’t been living under a rock, and know full well that every year the Blue Baron throws a rather distinct masquerade ball.  Obviously you will be compensated for your efforts.  Consider yourselves cordially invited.

– Nohj (Wizard of the court)."

So this is exactly what it says on the tin an old fashioned low down & more then slightly dangerous dungeon adventure;" Detailed within this book is a twenty two room dungeon, new monsters & spells, and all kinds of interesting twists.  The Blue Baron holds his masquerade party annually, and because of this we have added a pile of random tables, which should easily allow replaying this adventure with different results!"  This means that your going to be having parties & players that are going to be getting it right in the neck as a result. There are some real teeth here for players to deal with & the quality is fairly high when it comes to the writing, layout, and ideas here.
This adventure is meant to highlight the Blue Holmes retroclone but it can be easily used with other retroclone systems as well. Especially OD&D style systems such as Swords & Wizardry with some adjustment.




There are some true twists & turns to the adventure's design that will keep the most jaded of players guessing & really that's going to be the mark of a good solid adventure. Most of what was done here is a homage not so much an emulation of older adventures but the whole is built on originality and quality even in a free piece of design work. Five out of five and its free!


GRAB IT RIGHT HERE
For Free