OSR Review & Commentary On Wretchploitation By Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For Old School Exploitation 60's & 70's Game Campaigns

 "While previous Wretched games are meant to play anti-heroes, Wretchploitation goes a bit further allowing you to take the role of obvious villains, such as Dominatrix Nazi officers with a taste for blood, sadistic wardens, psycho-killers, deranged cult leaders and other distasteful personalities. "

"Wretchploitation expands the Wretched line into exploitation movie territory, already rife with seedy anti-heroes. Whether you like violent action, in the way of blaxploitation, 70s cop movies, Hong-Kong flicks and Eurocrime, or if you would, instead, emulate the horror and gore of cannibal, zombie, Giallo and splatter films, or even if you prefer the sleaziness of sexploitation and nunsploitation, this set of rules has got you covered!"

Wretchploitation is another Red Room creation by Miguel Ribeiro &  Wretchploitation takes its que from the rest of the Wretched rpg titles. You play scum & anti heroes with a take on some really low down PC types with Assassin, Common Citizen, Investigator, Man of Action, Proselytizer, Rogue and Scholar, plus the optional Conjurer, Psychic and Shaman. The adult grind house & exploitation film genres are on  full display here as is the adult artwork & public domain comic book artwork. This style fills all one hundred & fifty five pages of weirdness & depravity. All of which is going to be familiar to the average OSR or old school D&D style of player. But Wretchploitation isn't one for the kids; not at all or anything to do with children around! Seriously this is an adult title & not for the faint of heart! You are playing the scum of the Earth, antiheroes with evil hearts whose character creation relies on the 13 deadly sins mixed in with old school OSR rules! Wretchploitation takes the idea of the exploitation & grindhouse style of OSR play seriously. The subject matter is another turn entirely with both an easy mode & hard play of style for PC generation. 
The attention here on Wretchploitation is the idea of the PC's doing 60's & 70's  'evil' and downright weird adventures. The layout, artwork, etc. are all geared in this direction. From Cannibal Holocaust style adventures, to 'Men's 60's Adventure' magazines to straight up Pulp style anti heroics Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro covers the whole affair. 

Adventures rules  run the whole way with play styles, adventure ideas, equipment, firearms, cars chases, etc.covered in detail within Wretchploitation. And the game excels at those details. But is Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro  actually playable? In a word, yes! The game takes enough time & energy to bare out Wretchploitation's game systems & rules well enough to encourage a very different OSR style of play. And this follows well in the wake of Wretched Époque which uses many similar rpg system but these are not quite the same. The reason is the fact that two different & very almost opposed fictional  historical epochs are covered. 
Wretchploitation covers this with gusto allowing both DM & players to get down & dirty with their OSR adventures. Sometimes it's fun to play the bad guys & Wretchploitation allows that to happen in spades. You're a part of a crew of the 'bad guys' and bad things are going to happen! 
Because Wretchploitation is an OSR game this is a rather easy game for OSR or old school players to slip into. But in no way or shape is this a game for children to even be near or to play! Wretchploitation lives up to it's sleazy & scummy roots with it's pedigree of exploitation films, softcore 70's & 80's sources, and some very questionable artwork. Wretchploitation fits the genre of 'exploitation noir' quite well & it's an actually quite well made game. Though I'd love to play this game I'm not sure that I'd ever allow the PC's near my family in real life. Five outta of five if your looking to do an Wretchploitation campaign. 

Wretchploitation By  Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For Old School Exploitation 60's & 70's Game Campaigns Is Available Here 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Wretched Country rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From The Red Room

 "Wretched Country does for the western genre what Wretched Bastards did for fantasy: it's an old-school game meant for playing anti-hero characters."

 The spaghetti western, already referenced as a source of inspiration for the OSR dark-fantasy

Wretched Bastards, now takes centre stage. In this book you will find:

• Wretched rules adapted for playing a western game.

• The Devil's Country, a western-themed horror scenario about an international film crew travelling to Spain to shoot a movie believed to be cursed.

• Hellstone, a setting that can be used to run spaghetti, classic or weird west adventures. " 

Wretched Country rpg is a completely different take on the usual OSR Westerns & we do love a Western film or is it reality. More on that in a little bit, so Wretched Country follows closely on the heels of Wretched Bastards. And uses a simlar but not quite the same mechanic as the former OSR rpg. 
Wretched Country clocks in at one hundred & thirty one pages of Old Western grim & trail dust taking the PC's down the evil & degenerate spiral of Western outlaw weirdness based partial on the thirteen deadly sins. And alignment we don't need your stinking alignment! This is straight up OSR PC system goodness ala the Wretched Bastards rpg. You can be anything from an assassin to an American Indian shaman. 
The rub here is that not only is there a complete rpg in Wretched Country but its three games in one. How?! Because you've got 'The Devil's Country' which is literally a modern OSR Western rpg where you're PC's are the actors, film crew, etc. all headed into a cursed set which then brings you into the horrid Old Western. But wait there's more! 
Your PC in Wretched Country can actually be within Hellstone the classic Weird Western or straight classic Western campaign setting. Or your PC's could be from The Devil's Country who have been completely whisked into the campaign setting. 
And best of all Wretched Country is pretty close to B/X Dungeons & Dragons where its easy to pick up the rpg system then go play. 

The Wretched Country rpg is one where the cinematic take is far more evident here then just about anywhere else. Is the game good?! Yes in my humble opinion the Wretched Country is solidly done and very well thought out. How does it stack with other OSR  Western Rpg's like say, Independence Games Rider? Well it doesn't. Wretched Country isn't meant to because its a cinematic Western OSR  horror rpg that takes on best of its subject matter and then comes back for more. 

The Wretched Country rpg By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From The Red Room Is Available Here 

Review & Commentary On World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room

 "World of Bastards is the name we have chosen for a series of planned scenarios taking place in the Wretched Bastards setting, the world of Antillia. There’s no metaplot, no necessary connection between the scenarios, but a few known characters, places and factions might show up in some of them. The first scenario takes place in the Var Valey, a once fertile land where the crops are now rotten. The locals believe Lord Percival, an ambitious landowner with delusions of grandeur, has angered Ksenia, goddess of Fertility. Now drop a few bastard characters into this bucolic setting and let them raise hell!"

Now I've already covered World of Bastards rpg here on the blog here. Today we're gonna cover another whole different avenue in the form of Daughters of Darkness. World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  From The Red Room takes place in the Var Valey, a once fertile land where the crops are now rotten. The locals believe Lord Percival, an ambitious landowner with delusions of grandeur, has angered Ksenia, goddess of Fertility. So far nothing really to write home about or so it seems. What 'World of Bastards: 'Daughters of Darkness' really is an OSR horror film homage to those European grindhouse films of yesteryear. Yesteryear being the late fifties into the late Eighties with European flare. Daughters of Darkness lives up its title in both its female protagonistic NPC's, its supernatural flare, and its body count if the PC's are not careful. 
'Daughters of Darkness' clocks in at thirty four pages of OSR  supernatural hijinks & it does it quick. We already know that Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  are fans of both old school Kult, grind house horror movies, & more. And Daughters of Darkness shows this off in spades. We've got a fully fleshed out Var Valey with NPC's aplenty with murder, motives, and means, and this adventure really let's the  World of Bastards rpg shine. 

The writing on Daughters of Darkness is tight, the content isn't lean by any means, and the cuts into the party are going to be plenty. Daughters of Darkness is sorta like an actually useful LoFP adventure and its centered around a similar time period. Because Daughters is written by a solid pair of writers and OSR hobbyists you get a good solid horror romp. And 'Daughters of Darkness' actually has some solid chops to create an entire mini campaign around. And this is one of those inspiring adventures! Solidly done & highly entertaining. 

But whatelse could 'Daughters of Darkness' be used with?! Alright so this is a period adventure ala about the 14th through 16th centuries. And Daughters of Darkness could be used as a jump off point for a B/X game of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Now that's pretty obvious! But Daughters of Darkness could be used as a flash back adventure for another OSR B/X system in the form of Veterans of the Supernatural rpg. Its a perfect fit for a flashback adventure in which the PC's confront the evil of the Var Valey and then jump forward in time to deal with it once again. 
Do I think that 'Daughters of Darkness' is worth your time? Yes in spades! This is a great little adventure for at least three or more sessions. 

World of Bastards: Daughters of Darkness By  Sílvia Clemente, & Miguel Ribeiro  From The Red Room Is Available Here