Old Friends & Enemies in Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg

 So tonight I ordered a phyiscal copy of  Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg because over the past two weeks we've been reading the pdf. But like always my eyes are getting ready to bleed out of their sockets. Well, with very little preperation my order to Drivethrurpg was put in. Fingers crossed on the book getting here pretty quickly. 

Reading through Alexander Marcus's Ascendant Rpg several things cropped up and one of them happened to be an Ascendant named Khepri. Now if your are one of those Adventurer, Conqueror, King fan boys like myself. Then your familiar with these monsters & I don't use that turn lightly. These guys are the worst. Basically the Khepri are god like instellar insects who pass themselves off as the gods of old. And in ACK's they've been doing this schitck since time began. Khepri is one of this race of monster's avitars. Or at least that's how I'm spinning it for Ascendant. 

Khepri brings two things to the table as an NPC, one he's not one of the newly Ascendant's on the scene & two the US government is lying about the origin point of these super humans. Alexander Marcus  makes no secret of this origin point going so far as to say in interviews the heroes & man of renowned of old  were Ascendants. And this fact is something that I believe will go on to color many of the Ascendant comic books coming in the Indie Go Go project. 

Mythos Mail Call - Campaigns, Cthulhu, & Ancient Rome?!

Now we've talked about grabbing some of the rarer rpg books that have come out since 2018. And since our group is now going to focus on running an Amazing Adventures Fifth edition campaign for a change up. 


 So we decided to get down & dirty with a bit of that old Call of Cthulhu goodness. But with an OSR twist or two. Cthulhu Invictus by Golden Goblin Press  is for Seventh edition Call of Cthulhu & it is glorious! But but you've already got 43 AD  from Zozer Games by Paul Elloit?! Yes, we do & its the superior game in almost all ways. Because its focus is on both historical & cinematic Celtic & Roman period historical influences. 

Cthulhu Invictus by Golden Goblin Press is focused solely on fighting the Cthulhu mythos within the Roman Empire. The game adapts quite nicely all of the focus within this unto itself. And the book is printed in the United States not China like Chaosium books are. And in good conscious can not condone the multiple human rights violations of China. Nor ignore the stance of CCP's stance on Hong Kong where family of ours  resides. So while we  own several Chaosium CoC books our group's  stance is firm. This is about as political as this blog entry gets. Anyhow frequently DM Paul & co. have been bothering me about running Jason Vey's Amazing Adventures rpg. Now this isn't fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons at all. So shelve half of the preconceptions of that game. 
This is going to be an out and out supernatural or occult ho down with both New England & Mythos overtones. This is something that we started with Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Rpg by Elf Lord Games. But the focus within that Mythos campaign  is in a completely different direction. Then this campaign. The second book we grabbed is pure OSR And that's The  Worlds Without Number rpg.  That's a whole separate blog entry unto itself coming up. 

Seven Science Fiction & Fantasy Titles Bought Through Drivethrurpg

 So over the last twenty four hours there have been five Drivethrurpg titles that have passed into my hands due to the big sci fi sale on Drivethrurpg. First up is Magic Pig Media's Death Stalkers of Antediluvia which is  the Barbaric! Core book by Stellagama Publishing. Really looking forward to reviewing this Sword & Sorcery campaign piece later on. 

Next up is the Foelio for the Quantum Engine, Cepheus Sorcery, & Barbaric! which is a homage to a Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio with its own twist or two involved in it. There's some fantastic monsters in here & its a solid investiment for our group. Mark Craddock does an excellent job right out of the gate. Very nice monster goodness so far. 

Next up is Scandinavian Legendary Creatures for Barbaric! which is by Nicolas Kaczmarczyk which is an excellent overview of familiar & not so creatures from Scandinavian mythology. These are well done & laid out. A real good mix of monsters from myth & legend to challenge even the most experienced & jaded players. 

And now we switch it up with a bit of Science Fiction with Moon Toad Publishing's Ship Files: Polixenes Class Courier ship. This is going to come in very handy for dealing with some of the trading & what not that we've got going on in the Talon Sector folks. Moon Toad always does an excellent job with their ships. 

Then on to some super powered 2d6 action with Michael Brown's 2d6 Powers which is a highly recommended add on to the Cepheus Engine rpg. The system is easy to understand solidly done & works well for a lower tier supers game. 

Then we switch it up with Independence Game's Ships of Clement Sector 1-12 Pack (OGL) [BUNDLE] which has been on our minds for quite some time folks. This is a great little package of ships for one of the over arching creators for Cepheus Engine. 

Then we grabbed Alyssa Faden & Brian Young's Plundering Egypt [BUNDLE] for our up coming games & for the on going Castles & Crusades campaign. This is a solid line of maps & material by folks whose work the players actually enjoy. 

Commentary On A Weird Tales Or Sword & Sorcery Campaign Theme On Some OSR Resources & Adventures Featured In The Fifteen Percent Special Sale For Your Old School Campaigns

So the emails have rolled in asking all kinds of questions about OSR adventures, PC classes, etc. & which ones have merit and so forth. Alright this is based solely on my opinion and on the table experience as a dungeon master so your mileage may vary. Beyond the Ice Falls by  Raven God Games 

is very well done especially for a Viking or 1970's Marvel style Conan or Sword & Sorcery campaign. Grab any of their stuff because its done by Joseph D. Salvador. Yes the same author who did more then a few of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea adventures which are also under the same sale.


Next up is L. Kevin Watson Lovecraftian adventures for both fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons & the OSR, The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil (5th Edition Fantasy- OSR) From  Fat Goblin Games.

This has definitely different take on the Lovecraftian material but its easily adaptable into either Astonishing or your favorite OSR system. DNA - The Buried Zikurat OSR Adventure is the second follow up adventure and continues in a similar vein but is whole separate from the first adventure. Its very well done & nicely written. These adventures are balanced and play their parts well for getting the weird feel of the Mythos across in the author's unique style.

Even though the following isn't on sale per say, I have to say I'm a huge fan of  Jeremy Reaban. The man writes good PC classes and excellent adventures that can easily be adapted across the board for OSR style games. His adventures are balanced professional and hit that OSR Sword & Sorcery fix just right. All of his OSR material is 'pay what you want' and I try to give the gentleman props every single time. His work is very well done & easily adapted to OD&D, B/X Dungeons & Dragons as well as similar retroclones.


Don't think that just because the big sale is one that older tried & true OSR companies don't have anything to offer. Goblinoid games springs to mind with the classic Wyrms & Warlocks adventure which offers DM's an interesting little side adventure that pits the PC's against a Medusa & her mate. There's also one of the prime Lovecraft  OSR books in my humble opinion on the block Realms of Crawling Chaos. This is perhaps one of the single best books for a DM to have in their arsenal. From PC classes to a full Lovecraft monster catalog this one has it all.


Any of the Barrel Rider Games PC's stuff is excellent fodder for a DM or players looking to add player character variety to their OSR games. There isn't enough time to go into the quality and variety of their offerings. Which brings me to one of the most unsung Weird Tales style offerings that came out way back when I first got into the OSR, I'm speaking of the excellent The Peoples of the Pit Adventure from Brave Halfling. 

Wicked, nasty, and a very dangerous ride for PC's;""The People of the Pit" is an excited adventure module for 4-6 player characters of levels 5-7 and has been designed for OSRIC(TM), but is easily compatible with the Advance Edition rpgs. The module was written by Alphonso Warden and features art by John Bignham." I've used this one countless times with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea before I was even aware that there were adventures for that system! Yeah I'm a huge fan of Alphonso Warden & he does an excellent job with this adventure. His other adventure which I love is for Swords & Wizardry and its a great take on an old Lovecraft favorite of mine 'The Nameless City'. This is a freaking deadly little romp of a Lovecraftian adventure. The Nameless City (WhiteBox Rules) was an old favorite mine and still retains that Mythmere games reputation. Just remember that this is an adventure for PC's of level seven to ten. Unfortunately, The Nameless City isn't a part of the big Drivethrurpg sale.

Speaking of Weird Tales style books may I highly recommend  Ivanhoe Unbound 

Black Book series which is for original Dungeons & Dragons. There are two bundles which cover books one through five & books five through six in the other bundle.

This material covers everything from ancient astronauts, demons, to black powder gun rules. All for under three dollars USA.


Speaking of strange, dangerous, and completely weird, the first edition monster book Malevolent and Benign

from Expeditious Retreat Press  is well worth the price of admission. Its chalk full of all kinds of horrors, monsters and things waiting to meet your players and incredibly useful for constructing dungeons, adventures, and more.

OSR Commentary On A Few Of The OSR Titles Being Featured In The Fifteen Percent Special Sale For Your Old School Campaigns

The big sale over on Drivethrurpg continues to roll on & I've gotten an email asking which titles are worth getting into if your old school or OSR dungeon master. Alright here's a few thoughts and opinions about some of the titles that are on sale. Any of the Hill Canton's campaign material from Chris Kutalik  is worth getting especially Slumbering Ursine Dunes ,Fever-Dreaming Marlinko,& the crazy weirdness of  Misty Isles of the Eld.

This is one of the stand out OSR campaign settings with a completely different twist on the classic Eastern European fairy tale world elements that seem to come out of their own reality. Because this material is set up for Labyrinth Lord its so easy to adapt a wide variety of OSR retroclone game systems. Be sure to get the free downloads that go along with the setting for that added playability. 

Another title that goes in a completely different direction & ramps up the violence for Dungeon Crawl Classics is Hubris by Mike Evans. This thing is a massive three hundred & fifty pages of world building charts, new races, classes, kingdoms, etc. all set on the fetid corpse of a god that's only the start of it. There's a certain decedent brutality & vicious swords & sorcery death metal vibe about the world of Hubris that few other settings come close to. I've modified it time & again with use with a number of OSR retroclone systems even though its intended for use with DCC its easily hackable with others.
Another more modern OSR setting done is a pulpy not quite Weird Tales style is Trey Causey's Weird Adventures. Part campaign setting book, part player's guide, & complete guide to the City the domain of the  hard-boiled adventurer. There are few other settings that have that certain OSR something that has DM's coming back to them again and again. This is one of those for me. Make sure to download the free sampler/expansion of the Weird Adventures setting book Strange Trails. This book has important adventure  bits & campaign  pieces for the world of the City.


Another title that I'd probably pick up is Androids,Aliens, & Aberrations by Kirt Dankmyer 

its just one of those damn useful science fantasy OSR books that has a lot of uses at the table. A great book  especially if I'm looking to add some race or other PC class with a sci fi twist to it to an old school game.

Any of Tim Snider's Mutant Future or Apes Victorious material is top drawer & is so great to throw into a B/X D&D style game or even a Mutant Future one shot. Speaking of Labyrinth Lord or similar retroclone systems I highly recommend anything by  James Mishler Games. Their OSR material is highly recommended and easy to adapt to an number of systems especially any of their monster, adventurer, or setting titles.

 Another strong contender in the must grab OSR titles department are any of the  Necrotic Gnome Productions  books which have some very strong OSR credit to them. They're very well done and highly useful for the DM on the run.

OSR Commentary On The Fifteen Percent Special Mega Bundle Sale On Drivethrurpg

So +Greg Gorgonmilk  directed me over to the fact that Drivethrurpg is having a fifteen percent off sale on lots of titles over at Drivethrurpg .  There's lots of OSR titles & retroclone systems available through these sales. You can pick up lots of products at a fraction of the cost but what's really interesting is that that major publishers have recognized the fact that the OSR is a legitimate gaming category.
When you've got the  AD&D Core Megabundle (1e) [BUNDLE] 

which has almost everything you need to run AD&D completely except for Unearthed Arcana. Well, then things get a bit interesting. Because you've got the Known World Megabundle (BECMI) which has everything you need for Mystara & the second edition AD&D setting Planscape for sale. Its easy to see why some have stated that the OSR has one the war. To which I say to the pundits that the battle goes on. Yeah, the major & minor publishers are recognizing that there's gold in that there hobby & childhood  nostalgia. But getting new blood into the hobby is really the major hurtle. 



Time & time again I've seen wonderful folks come into the old school hobby & some leave but its those with the staying power who are really the leading lights. This is something that the classic  GROGNARDIA 

blog talked about time & again. OSR adventures are jam to the system peanut butter & there's some really fine ones on sale in  The OSR(IC) Extravaganza [BUNDLE] From  Expeditious Retreat Press .This set has some serious titles that can take PC's from first through the end of their gaming levels. Its also a set that perfectly lines up with another system that's on sale during this run, I'm talking about North Wind Adventures Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's rpg system product line & adventures!

This is great time to get new gamers into sword & sorcery OSR gaming, and branch it off into other avenues of old school gaming. Which brings me to my point which is that on the ground play is the route to go.Keep the ball rolling to get new campaigns and adventures at the table with both new players and old. Its new blood that keeps this hobby vital folks.
Anyhow keep em rolling and I hope you make your saves.


GET IN ON THE ACTION HERE!

Now Available ! GBE7 The time a tree saved me.Gang Busters Adventure & Welcome to Rock Junction Adventure Source Book By Mark Hunt

 So now both adventures 'Welcome to Rock Junction' &  GBE7 "The time a tree saved me"  have both gone on sale  for the Gangbusters rpg have gone on sale. Basically these two adventures take the Gangbusters rpg in a new and very interesting 1920's Noir pulp crime direct while remaining true to the games roots.

GRAB THEM RIGHT HERE

GBE7 The time a tree saved me. from  Mark Hunt   is a full on investigative detective style adventure with the potential for lots of action and crime filled adventure for the PC's. It takes full advantage of the Gangbusters rpg for action and actual investigative work on the PC's part. Here's the description from Drivethrurpg;"This is a 2nd level Encounter for Gangbusters RPG

Don Cole had been working this case for three weeks, and now he just wanted to be off of it. His feet hurt and he needed a drink. He liked the job and he was good at it. There were times, however, when he didn't enjoy the things he had to do.  This looked to be one of those times.
After all this time he had found the kidnappers, Holed up in a house at the edge of town. He stopped to call for help and moved in to keep an eye on them.  He could make out three of them sitting calm as you please on a car that had more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese.
He pulled out his trusty .38, but on one side of the house stood a Tough with a tommy gun and on the other a pretty girl with a derringer in her hand. Using the trees for cover, he got as close as he dared and called to them to drop their weapons. This was going to be one of those days . . ."

This all comes through with a price tag of two dollars and is a nice two tier adventure for those who have played the game or are new to the system. It works very well for what it does and works a perfect introduction to the new adventure location elements and action of the campaign setting. Welcome to Rock Junction introduces a whole new city with new problems and lots of pulpy NPC's, locations, settings, and possible crimes for your Gangbusters campaigns.


The Drivethrurpg write up gives you some idea of the depths of crime ridden scum and horror that your PC's are going to be experiencing in Rock Junction; "Welcome to Rock Junction!

Rock Junction is a Steel town sixty miles from the sprawling, brawling metropolis of Lakefront City located somewhere in the American Midwest. Rock Junction serves as a  town the players can get to know and explore or they may head off to the life in the big city.
The Midwest dread sometimes seized hold of Jon and refused to let go, especially on mornings like this one. The pale sun struggled to hoist itself above the infinite sea of corn. Jon could empathize. He sleepily stumbled down his driveway, his terrier, Ben, bouncing along at his heels. When he arrived to his fence, he saw that his mailbox had been destroyed. The metal box sat on the ground, crumpled like a piece of paper, with all of his mail shredded, aside from one nicotine colored piece of a paper with an ominous black handprint on it.
  His hand ached from coiling it into a fist too tightly. The accident had taken a toll on his ability to do his job, and work at the fabrication shop had been slow. His family’s finances were dwindling down to nothing. Jon knew what the black hand signified. Everyone in Rock Junction knew damn well what it meant, too—pay up a portion of your monthly income, or something unpleasant is going to happen. One might have their car set ablaze in a grocery store parking lot, or their family might be harassed and brutalized in countless unmentionable ways, or one might even leave their home to run an errand and never return, only to turn up sixty miles away on the Lakefront City riverbank or in some nameless back alley with their neck sliced from ear to ear and their tongue pulled through the tactless incision. Truly, nobody in the little steel town had gone untouched by The Black Hand Society. "
Even though this is only a twelve page sourcebook its packed with lots of tid bits that can be used for a wide variety of games as well as Gangbusters and it take things in a number of new directions and lays everything wide open on the table. The PC's are not going to know what hit them going into this campaign setting. My recommendation is to get these today and make your menacing Monday a high tension playground!