Thursday, July 28, 2022

OSR Review & Commentary On CASTLE OLDSKULL - Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly For The Castle Oldskull Campaign Setting And Your OSR or Old School Campaigns

 "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your players dabbling in low anachronous-tech science fantasy, with anti-heroic gunslinger characters in the vein of Roland of Gilead, Solomon Kane, Lord John Roxton, Jack Sparrow, or even Don Kaye’s Merlin-D? What do you think would have happened if Gary Gygax, in creating his fantastical medieval history RPG, had never arbitrarily erased gunpowder from the heroic fantasy lexicon? And in what possible world, pray tell, do the legendary Cloud City of Laputa, the ever-fabled City of Brass, Jack the Giant Killer, imp-loaded hand cannons, Doctor Mirabilis, the King in Yellow, and Great Cthulhu coexist with one another?

"If you’ve never thought of these questions, let alone their potential answers, that is because you are sane. Fortunately, in the realms of Oldskull we long ago dispensed with sanity as a petty and needless obstacle, barring the way to endlessly strange and fun ideas."






























"Herein you will find the Fusilier, an optional Player Character (or NPC) fighter sub-class, inspired in part by Arneson, Gygax and Perren, Howard, King, Poe, Browning, Hodgson, and Jonathan Swift. Secrets revealed in this tome include the following: Oldskull lore, binding old school fantasy firearms and asynchronous tech lore cohesively together; a Gygaxian history of guns in 1970s play; rules for introducing the wondrous Cloud City and its like; alchemical pulver (arcane gunpowder from out of another reality); medieval handgonnes; misfires; trick shots; kill shots; brimstone Glamours; and more. If you’ve ever looked for a way to introduce guns to the classic fantasy RPG in a limited fashion without ruining the lore of your campaign, you will find this supplement to your liking. Particularly if you’ve been drinking.

This book has been written to interface directly with the Old School Essentials game, as derived from compatible systems under the rules originally published by Gygax (1974-1985), Holmes (1978), Moldvay (1981), Mentzer (1983-1986), and many others. Even if it’s just a one-shot, why not give your players a game experience they will never forget?" " 


So last night I approached Kent Kelly & asked him for a copy of CASTLE OLDSKULL - Oldskull Gonneslingers. And this OSR PC resource book isn't what I was expecting. What I was expecting was a Stephen King Dark Tower style PC sourebook for some reason. But what I got was far better! Far better by far. Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly is actually an OSR  black po wder gunner's sourcebook. And it supports that angle with 146 pages of a fantasy angle for a match lock powered gunner PC class with overtones of magic. 
Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly  does an excellent job of presenting both arguments for black powder style weapons within OSR style games along with the materials to support it. And this is done by the author making his case for the history of black powder style weapons in Dungeons & Dragons powered games going back to the beginning. And it's an amazing sourcebook from the ground up.
Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly is a great resource for other OSR games. And I'm looking towards Lamentations of the Flame Princess &  the Gonneslingers PC class would be an excellent fit. The Gonneslingers & it's attendant class goes up too twelve levels with attendant magical effects, glamours, and more. There's a whole cloth setting involved in  Oldskull Gonneslingers ready to drag & drop into your campaign. Take for example Adventurer, Conqueror, King where 
Oldskull Gonneslingers would make an excellent side companion for ACK's Guns of War! The material within Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly is a great side sequel to this book. 

Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly For The Castle Oldskull Campaign Setting is one of those books that has use across a multiple OSR rpg platforms & systems. And this includes post apocalypse rpg campaign settings! And the Oldskull Gonneslingers makes no bones about this. So Gonneslingers could be easily slid into the Mutant Future rpg and it's attendant resource books. Bottomline, CASTLE OLDSKULL - Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly is a solid OSR book and works well to creat a black powder and magical using PC class for your OSR games!
 
 CASTLE OLDSKULL - Oldskull Gonneslingers By Kent Kelly For The Castle Oldskull Campaign Setting And Your OSR Campaigns Is Available Here! 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.