OSR Commentary On Kellri aka Scot Hoover's Go Fund Me Campaign & Free OSR Resources

Over the years I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a Gamma World fanatic. In point of fact it was Gamma World that was one of the underpinnings that brought me to the OSR in the first place. I could mention that it was Mutant Future by Goblinoid Games that really started me on this path. Or I could mention Thundarr Thursdays from the Savage Afterworld blog are actually what made me start this blog in the first place. Instead, I'd like to take a moment of your time to talk about the OSR blog Kellri aka Scot Hoover. For most Scot has been a bombastic fountain of OSR creativity especially when it came to Gamma World & many old school games. Scot also happens to be my real life friend, we've never met in person but like Venger or Rpg Pundit or any number of OSR people he's a real friend.
He's had a stroke at the age of forty nine. Let that sink in for a moment. A stroke like one of those life changing bits that sneaks up on you in the middle of the night. He also happens to be a father or in his words he's an " English teacher living and  writing in Vietnam for the past 19 years.I  have been a single father supporting my  two teenage children Sam,  and Siobhan for the past 6 years in Vietnam."
Now he needs a life saving MRI and Scot hasn't got any back up insurance.
" Last week I suffered  life threatening and debilitating stroke which has left me unable to write. According to my doctor I need to get an MRI as soon as possible.  I have no health or medical insurance this campaign will mean I will be ale to pay my rent an medical expenses and continue supporting my children until I am on the road to recovery "



So once again I'm sounding the trumpets & banging the drums to help out one of us. If you're so inclined you can donate to Scot's Go Fund Me campaign here. All of the proceeds will go to helping him & his kids for real & no B.S. Trust me Scot is a straight shooter and one of the most honest people I know. So every last dollar is going to go exactly where it belongs!


Now on an unrelated OSR note if you haven't checked out Kellri's OSR resources then you have no idea of the depths of resources that your missing out on. Not just Gamma World but also a huge number of old school retro clone stuff that can be used with ANY Dungeons & Dragons style game from B/X to Fifth edition if that's your inclination. There's some top drawer Stars Without Number stuff that is fantastic!


Thanks to looking over Kellri's OSR resource I've been planning a Gamma World game mini campaign. More on that later on. For the moment thanks for your attention & anything will be appreciated by the Hover family. Cheers & keep em rolling!


Take A Look At  Scot Hoover's "Go Fund Me" Campaign & Thanks For Any Support!

Commentary On The Free OSR Resource - CLASSIC DUNGEON DESIGNER’S NETBOOK #2 -OLD SCHOOL SPELLS REFERENCE By Kellri aka Scott Hover

This is the second in the CDD#2 and Kellri's net books. This is all of the classic first edition spells in one handy little free reference guide from AD&D 1st edition.
 It comes under the heading of : 

A COMPREHENSIVE LISTING OF MAGIC-USER, ILLUSIONIST, CLERIC and DRUID SPELLS, 

PUBLISHED BY TSR FOR USE WITH 1st Edition ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS™ 

FEATURING COMPILED COMMENTARIES & NOTES.
Available Right Over
HERE
Under the CDD#2 title! 

With so many old school  adventures and modules now turning to the generic or game neutral title. A handy reference guide to spell is a must. This one hundred eighty seven extravaganza is must. Because it's free and allows a Dm to customize their games it comes in handy for both 1st edition AD&D and OSRIC. The fact is as a DM it's nice to have everything in one place during play. No more scrambling through rule books, its all right there.
 This is a no frill's pdf but done with a nice solid font and it's easily read. The fact is that this is nice for both players and DM's to use. For design work, it also has it's points when coming up with spells for NPC villains, minor henchmen, and so forth. 

The book can also be used in overlap references for things like science fiction or fantasy settings where the magic has faded or science has replaced magic. The guide could be used for planetary druids doing terraforming as well which have appeared in numerous games of mine.
Time and tide have made these some of the most recognizable spells out there but remembering the particulars can be a bit taxing on any DM. It's nice to have everything right at your fingers. 

Magic in AD&D has always been a bit funny but this handy guide makes it a rabbit trick to pull any spell right out of your DM's hat!
Seriously this is a reference I wish I had back in 87 or so when AD&D was the only game in town. With retroclones now the lay of the land this reference becomes even more handy. Scott did a great job with these and this one is no exception. Grab it while you can and get to work putting the magick to work for you! 

Review and Commentary On The Free OSR Resource - The Old School Monster Stat Block Reference Book CDD#1 By Scott Hover

This is another free reference from Kellri aka Scott Hover subtitled AN ABBREVIATED LISTING OF CANONICAL MEN & MONSTERS FOR USE BY A DM WITH ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS™ADVENTURES
Available right
Here 
 Download this Net book from under the CD&D#1 title for the PDF. CDD stands for classic Dungeons and Dragons. So what's the big deal about a collection monster stat blocks? Well this one happens to be every available monster that appeared in the classic AD&D first edition books. This taps out at 103 pages and includes everything you could want from most of the major books with 'gasp' an index! That's right these are not simply in alphabetic order but indexed as well.
That Stat set up is done in the classic style and for an example we get the following: 

ABOLETH: AC 4; MV 30’/180’; HD 8; hp 8-64; THAC0 12; #AT 4; D 1-6/1-6/1-6/1-6; SA 

Enslavement; SD Darkvision 60’, Slime; SZ L; Int High; AL LE; XP 1,275+10/hp. (MM2) It's all there in black and white along with the monster's appearance. For those of us who are DMing AD&D first edition or even the retroclone version such as Osric this is great. It means that in one volume we've got everything we need to ruin a PC's day in one place. The thing to remember as well that this is a net book and probably used by Scott in his own games as well. So it's free and its a great netbook to own especially if your dealing with AD&D first edition. 

The font is easy to read and all of the usual suspects are there in one place with pretty solid cover from the old AD&D colouring book. 
So far nothing out of the ordinary but there are other reasons for downloading this one.
Lately there has been a big push toward authors and OSR designers to do system neutral adventures and even fluff books. This is where this book comes in very handy. For use as a bench mark for many of the weird and woolly monsters in these adventures this netbook works very well.
Let's not begin to mention the usefulness of this book when DM's are designing their own old school edition adventures as well.
 Many of these classic  monsters have appeared in many other venues as well. There have been numerous science fiction and fantasy games from the various eras of TSR which included many of these monsters over the years. Its nice to have their stats in one easy to use volume for designing and managing them in your own post apocalyptic or science fiction adventures and campaigns as well.
All in all a nice free addition to the arsenal of any old school DM. Grab it while you can.
 A book like this should have come out years ago but as a friend said this is some of the best material that money can't buy.