Review & Commentary On Forever War By Paul Elliot For The Hostile Rpg

 Leviticus. Eden. Paradise. Earth’s first interstellar colony, where many nations established hopeful new settlements. It was no paradise… the planet proved to be hostile and unforgiving: plant life interfering with electronics, intelligent carnivorous vines, jungle rot and leechlike ’jellies’.

But the incredible mineral wealth made Leviticus an irresistible lure. The colonized continent was an ancient asteroid impact crater, packed with valuable ores. The corporations rushed to the planet and began turning paradise into hell. Chaos erupted. Colonials fought their governments as well as the corporations. And the wars continue today.
​

Ignored by the media back on Earth, Levitcus is a now a mercenary’s paradise. Opportunities abound for security work, corporate contracts, training rebels or defending the colonial cities. And there are chancers everywhere: diplomats, mercenary brokers, would-be presidents, warlords, smugglers and thousands of mercenaries seeking work. And there is plenty of war to go around ...

"Is it really just a coincidence that this perfect world, this unspoiled paradise is right there, 33 light years from home? Or is it part of a much larger plan? This isn't just a dream for me. It's a calling. - Megan Tanner, one of the first colonists on Leviticus" 

Forever War By Paul Elliot For The Hostile Rpg just dropped. Forever War is a whole craft campaign setting from the ground up with an over arching mercenary slant to it. Levitcus is a world of war and exploitation fought over for it's vast mineral wealth and a continant sized war torn problem just waiting for a group of PC's mercenary PC's. Forvever War is particularly well written with lots of hotspots, points of violence, and opportunities for PC's to be killed. This is a perfect campaign for both beginning or experienced PC's. This is not a campaign to be trifled with. As a world Leviticus is a world on the edge and totally ingnored by the Hostile rpg. This is a world where the horrors of war are visited upon the populations of the colonies. The situation is spiralling out of control because these are failed colonies who are hanging on the edge of the war. 

The situation on Leviticus is a microcosm of what can go completely off the rails within the Hostile universe. Corporate powers at each other's throats through warfare with colonists caught in the middle. This is a situation where the rope of diplomacy has been cut long ago. Everything about Leviticus is dangerous but there is plenty of opportunity for those bold enough to take it.  This is a solid campaign setting and weird interstellar warfare location just waiting for PC's to stumble into the 'low end' of the warfare here.  All artwork within Forever War is done by human artists. 

The world of Leviticus is a place where the plants & animals want to eat and destroy the PC's without mercy from the super leech 'Jellies' to the vines that thread thier way through electronics. Leviticus is a world of contrasts from it's deserts to it's jungle infested plains. This is world that rebels against it's occupants and colonists. This is not an easy place to wage war.

You will be waging war against the colonists, the corporate forces, thier handlers, and encountering every slimeball who comes to this world. All of this in a hundred and thirteen pages of nasty warfare infested Hell. 

OSR Campaign Commentary On The Red Room's Rpg Darker

 " Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."- Friedrich Nietzsche

So for the last month or so I've been screwing around with the Darker Rpg from the Red Room.  This post Biblical horror game has the powers of Hell seeping into the Earth sinking thier talons into the Earth in modern 2025. Note that Darker is a mature themed game in spades. 
 

Darker presents a world where God is dead or absent completely and isn't coming back anytime soon. This campaign setting world is cross compatible with what I've stated in previous blog entries here. The problem is selling this Biblical horror campaign to the players as an actual viable campaign. The answer of course is the horror film campaign idea. 
The players are the ones that have to hold the line now in the absence of a righteous God. Darker hits the Biblical & the Revelation rpg vibe hard. The Darker Biblical feels like a bold mixture of supernatural & infernal elements in spades.
Sure you can use films such as Legion, Phophecy, and other cultclassics and steal thier plots. 
How about an original campaign idea? It's not quite the end of the Earth but Hell is definitely here and not going away anytime soon. So why not go down in a flame of glory kicking the Devil and his minion's asses back to Hell! 
I think it's that simple to use as a premise for a horror  campaign from the ground up. 
Saving the Earth wouldn't be easy but it could be done. Ask any fan of Supernatural or Buffy which means huge sacrifices on the PC's parts. Could this be used for a long term campaign?
In a word yes I think it could because of the following: 

1. The PC's have personal stake in the outcome of the campaign such as the soul of a loved one. 
2. The core of one of the PC's values is on the line because the world is ending and they don't feel fine. 
3. They watch others walk into the fire and the PC's don't. This trend continues until the PC's actions affect the Earth. 
4. The powers of both God & the Devil could both be monsters. The Darker setting is flexible to allow one to explore these themes.  
5. Cults have been growing in leaps and bounds allowing them to gain both overt and covert power in many countries across the globe. This allows the DM to affect the PC's on a personal level.
6. Biblical threats can hit close to home throwing the status que out the window.Such adventure horror elements  as demonic possession and the like are very nasty. 
7. Straight up destruction of Hell's legions also goes a long way to making the horrors right there and in the PC's face. Use this tactic sparingly. 
8. Horror is subjective and over doing the elements of horror could turn it comedic. 
9. Allow the PC's to have small victories and allow the status que to breath a bit bringing home the gut punches of horror when it appears. 
10. Long term campaigns are possible with horror but it takes a solid group of players who are going to be able to achieve a long term goal. 

The Wretched Rpg could help to act as a campaign anchor to bring PC's into Darker. But this is going to be a balancing act as the Darker game has no real skill system, level system, or as many rpg PC system hooks as the players might expect.

Review & Commentary On The Darker Rpg By The Red Room

 DARKER RPG - RELEASED

"Darker is a contemporary mature horror RPG, OSR-compatible, challenging you to confront themes of faith, morality, and the human condition amidst escalating supernatural peril. Face the true nature of Good and Evil, moral erosion, and humanity’s decline, investigate modern-day horrors hidden behind a façade of normalcy and tackle contemporary issues like corporate power, ideological grooming, and the erosion of traditional values."

Darker is a full on infernal rpg with huge occult overview with the Creator dead. Hellblazer or Spawn could easily be done with Darker as a whole cloth campaign. Darker clocks in a five hundred pages & bridges both Wretched Rpg & other Red Room rpg. This is a mature game & not for kids! 
Darker plays into the Eighties & Nineties classic horror movies  & films. Darker hits the Biblical & the Revelation rpg vibe hard. The Darker Biblical feels like a bold mixture of supernatural & infernal elements in spades. Darker plugs into these elements with gusto. What works is the classless vs the rpg skill system as a whole cloth rpg. Darker rpg takes the Biblical/Revelation's feel to the limit. 
The infernal of Darker is brought into the spotlight! Strap in as Darker takes the PC's for a ride. Because it takes over our comtempory reality & brings it hard into Darker's Biblical reality.
The world is already on the fifth ring of Hell with a clockwork Heaven and an absentee God who happens to be dead. The PC's are there to hold the line against the infernal. This doesn't mean that your PC's are good guys.Can Darker work with the Expanded Wretched Rpg? In a word, the  Darker can work with the Expanded Wretched Rpg system. 

So at it's core Darker is easily adapted into the Expanded Wretched and other OSR rpg systems quite easily even though it doesn't use a level class system or an all encompassing skill system. At it's core it works on two levels. Which means that Darker is a solid Biblical Horror OSR game in spades. 
Darker is a game that bridges the gap between horror & Biblical weirdness quite well. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Free AD&D first edition module N7: 'Mystery beneath the Church' By RC Pinnell For Your AD&D First Edition Campaign or Old School Games

" This is the second part of the Minotaur Marshes trilogy, which began with N6: Mass for the Missing Priest. The characters continue to uncover the secrets of the town of Hogg Bottem. An AD&D adventure for characters of level 1-3."

 N7: 'Mystery beneath the Church' By RC Pinnell goes back down the AD&D first edition rabbit hole that N6: Mass for the Missing Priest trod. N7 does this by advancing the adventure campaign timeline;
"The plot and history behind this adventure need not be repeated in its entirety. In summary, the main reasons the characters may have come to the village of Hogg Bottem is either to find the missing priest, Brother Filus; discover why shipments of crayfish meat are no longer being sent to other parts of the realm; or to find a missing relative. Once the characters arrived, they met the residents and likely explored the abandoned warehouses and church."

We've covered N6: Mass for the Missing Priest previously on this blog here.These adventure locations fuel some solid hooks that we see within our AD&D campaigns. N7: 'Mystery beneath the Church' By RC Pinnell is solid & good because it's a part of a free  mini  campaign. This includes  N6: Mass for the Missing Priest and N7: Mystery Beneath the Church ending with N8 'Monsters in the Mist'.  This comes loud & clear in N7: 'Mystery beneath the Church' set up by  N6: Mass for the Missing Priest. Because this is an AD&D module its got a solid basis to build up a campaign. N7: 'Mystery beneath the Church' is a good middle of the road adventure that acts as an adhesive for the N series campaign. 

So is N7: Mystery Beneath the Church worth the download?! The N7 module is a solid middle point module & offers some really good dungeon delver action. So yes along with the others of the N series of modules are a solid AD&D first edition fest of OSR goodness. 


You can download
 N7: Mystery Beneath The Church Here. 

 

Review & Commentary On 'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath' By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler From James Mishler Games For Old School & OSR rpg Systems

" Necromancers are a sub-class of magic-users who specialize in the magic of death, undeath, and demonolatry (summoning demons). They embrace the dark arts in order to gain power over the living and the dead."

'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath' came into my email box a couple of days ago & its an interesting variation on the traditional Advanced Dungeons & Dragons necromancer class. What this class does is take the standard necromancer PC class tropes & turns them out a bit. These are not just normal necromancers instead these necromancers in fifteen pages are given a whole cloth revamp. These necromancers are NPC's or PC's who studying the arts of the undead have crossed the line into another existence straddling the line between campaign reality & the spiritual or  negative material plane. These necromancers have their souls corrupted by the very act of dipping into the world of the undead;"Alignment: Necromancers cannot be Good; they must be Neutral or Evil, but can be Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic (most are Chaotic and Evil)." 
And it get's better because it affects their ability to heal which is super critical in Dungeons & Dragons style games & this goes all the way into the core of the PC;" Corrupted Body and Soul: Necromancers cannot benefit from the casting of cure wounds spells (light, serious, critical, or heal), nor from potions of healing or extra-healing, or similar magic items; they instead are harmed by the application of such spells and potions (no saving throw). Necromancers are healed by the application of cause wounds spells (light, serious, critical, or harm); they also heal naturally. Necromancers cannot be brought back to life using raise dead or resurrection; to be brought back to life requires the use of a limited wish or wish spell."

Necromaners can use & manufacture poison! Which is a big deal because it plays deeply into the murderous & corrupt nature of the necromancer;"Poison Use: Necromancers learn the manufacture of poisons as they advance in level; they learn one at each level including 1st level. They must learn the lower classes of each of a poison type first before learning a higher-class of the same type. Thus, a necromancer must learn class 1 contact before they can learn class 2 contact; class 12 inhaled before class 13 inhaled; and so on. A necromancer can manufacture a dose of poison at half the sale cost, requiring one day of time per 100 gp cost or portion thereof (minimum one day)."
And it gets worse the necromancer can only really get proficience within their necromatic class; "Learning Spells: Necromancers can only learn to cast a single magic-user spell per level, but are unlimited in learning necromancer spells (and learn one of their choice of a level they can cast automatically and for free each level). Necromancers begin play with read magic, any one other 1st level magic-user spell, and any two 1st level necromancy spells of their choice in their grimoire." 

The necormancer class limited to 7th-level spells, like illusionists & that's fine because this is a class is a short handed & somewhat short cut class that is kinda made for villains or players who want to have fun with it. Can it compete in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or The Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg!?! 

This is a nasty & dangerous classs but its 'balanced' in the sense that it does what it sets out to do. That is that it takes a very vague class & sets the person whose PC is paying it on the path of the damned. It makes no apologies for this. Don't believe me?! Check out Krynn Ellis's evaluation;"Since I'm a publisher, I don't get to write reviews, but, here's my opinion of this product, which yes, I did receive from my friend, James, but he didn't exactly buy me dinner or pay my backlogged library fines. OK, on with the personalview: Oh, man! I wish someone would run an online game for me and let me play this class! The new spells alone, while not scaling, each take the various Undead-controlling (etc.) effects to the next degree of mastery, with the higher-level spells retroactively affecting lesser Undead (as one would hope). The fact that the class makes it clear that one is no longer part of the mundane realm and that the Necromancer has learnt its own spell for tending to its injuries, is just another facet of what makes this version of of the time-honoured (BiTD this was advised as an NPC-only class in D&D, but other cool games, like, The Arcanum, for instance, allowed its ilk as a PC...) class write-up so worthy of play. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up. *****"  
Here's the part where she nails this class's features the control of the undead. The necromancer excels at it in spades & beyond. This is where 'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath' By James Mishler,  & Jodi Moran-Mishler  lives up to its 2.49 cent price tag. 

What sets it apart however in my humble opinion are the spells & the magic items plus the add on demons. These really push the whole affair over the top, check out the spell list at first level; 
"1st Level Animate Dead* (C3) Cause Light Wounds* (C1) Darkness (reversed Light) Detect Undead* Skull Sense* Speak With Dead* (C3) Summon Skeletons* Unseen Servant" 

Basically your PC has already gone beyond the normal jog down the path of corruption. The PC is verging on villainous terrority here & the necromancer class only get's sucked into this sewer the lower we go. As they go higer in level folks! 
Even the magic items & treasure are completely made for the grave with things like -  bone armor, cloak of the necromancer, ghoul ring, ring of undead detection, staff of necromancy, wand of wounding, and the mighty vampire cape. 
And the demons complete the picture. So where would I use the  'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath' ? Well personally I'd drop the class straight into the original Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign setting as is! This means that whole cloth of the class is preserved along with its essence. 

Since this is a Labyrinth Lord rpg class its easily used in Adventurer,Conqeuror,King rpg  And given its corrupt nature this class is perfect for that person who wants to play the torn & battered necromancer who advises the king. 
For myself I'd drop 'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath'  straight into a Castles & Crusades game as an NPC villain class. Straight up I'd use this class to torture the heck out of the PC's. There's so much laditude to work the material into a usable whole end of a campaign villain. And this the strength of 'Necromancer Class – Masters of Death and Undeath' . I think five outta of five for this one & thanks to James Mishler,  & Jodi Moran-Mishler for sending it too me for review. 

Review & Commentary On “Ynys Bach”: A Celtic-flavoured one-page island adventure for OSR & Old School Campaigns

"Amid the rolling swells of a great ocean – possibly the Sea of Os'r – stands a craggy isle. PCs might find Ynys Bach by chance while “wavecrawling” or they might be led here by a treasure map. The surf pounds against a rocky shoreline, but two beaches of pale sand make viable landing sites for seafarers. "
“Ynys Bach” is a Celtic mythological themed one page adventure  for mid level play for old school games. This is a very nasty little piece of business packed into a one page package from 2013 let me tell ya. “Ynys Bach”  works on three levels. One it works as an adventure location especially for Celtic Otherworld island adventure location encounters. Alan Brodie does an excellent job of ramping up the action with his Formorians being absolutely nasty.
I can absolutely see using “Ynys Bach”  as a mid tier to upper level adventure mini module in Celtic themed Original Dungeons & Dragons or in a Swords & Wizardry campaign. But this is not a module to take lightly.

 A  Fomorian from the Advanced
Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual II

Where could “Ynys Bach”  dropped into in  OSR or old school gaming systems?! “Ynys Bach” could be dropped whole cloth into an Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign whole cloth. The island can easily be dropped into the edge of the world of Hyperborea & it wouldn't be out of the Sword & Sorcery weird tales theme of the game. “Ynys Bach”  would also fit as a last out post of the Formorian royals or as single former fortress to a degenerate kingdom lurking under the waves. 
The Fomorians, as depicted by John Duncan (1912)
 Claw Carver does an excellent job of setting up “Ynys Bach”  as a greater part of an island hopping campaign something that we see quite a bit of in Celtic mythology. I've used this gambit several times in campaigns to bring home the dangerous & nasty business of 'wave crawling'. Overall I think that  “Ynys Bach” succeeds on a number of levels & especially as a solid mid level one off OSR adventure location. 
I could easily see this one page adventure being used for Castles & Crusades's The Codex Celtarum with some very minor adjustments. The PC's are exploring & exploiting the former realms of the gods. Their holdings are now in the hands of the ancient twisted giants of legend. 

 On the flip side of the coin “Ynys Bach”  could be used as the basis for a complete rework of a Celtic mythological Adventurer, Conqeuror,King rpg adventure in which the PC's are challenging & taking over the ancient holdings of the gods. This island is one more chess piece on the board. 
Given this I can also see using  “Ynys Bach” as a part of an old school high level D&D Expert campaign with a Celtic mythological bent. This adventure location could be dropped whole cloth into a full on Expert D&D  Sword & Sorcery campaign as well. For Mentzer Dungeons & Dragons we're talking easily The D&D Companion Rules Set (1984). 

“Ynys Bach"  Is Available Right Here. 

Free OSR Mega Resource From Dragon's Foot ~ L5A: The Kroten Campaign Guide and Package For AD&D First Edition And Your Old School Retroclone

Get It Right

HERE

This is a one hundred and fifty seven mega resource for free! This AD&D resource details  The Town of Kroten and the near by environs in glorious detail. I'm taking a short break from AS&SH to do a review. According to the introduction :

This manual describes the Town of Kroten and the

nearby area, which is located on Lendore Isle in the

World of Greyhawk. Details include nomenclature used

by the author, world background, and local features.

Also included is a detailed description of the Town of

Kroten, excepting three key areas: The Fane of Syrul, the

Fane of Pyremius, and the Castle Kroten itself. These

areas are described in L5B: The Kroten Adventure

 The whole book is by Len Lakofka and company. The book is very well written and easily incorporated into any Greyhawk campaign or any retroclone looking for a drop in campaign. The towns and locations are well fleshed out but not to the point of not being able for a DM to put their own thumb print into  the region.

There are metric ton of new NPC's, spells, idea, adventure hooks, and fully thoughout history to drop into your own game.
 Those wishing to use the full Kroten experience are going to want to get into the five free adventures that make up

 L5B: The Kroten Adventure

 Available Right Over

HERE

 This book clocks in at about 96 pages and features some solidly and professionally done adventures that can be dropped into existing Greyhawk campaigns or the start of one taking place exlusively within the Kroten region of the Lendore Islands.

The adventures are interesting as well as deadly in their own right.

They consist of the following: 

This manual details five adventures set in and around

Kroten:  Crypt Adventure

 Fane of Syrul  Fane of Pyremius  Castle Kroten

 There is a further one but I'll let the DM discover that one on his own. This is wonderful package further supported by more free product!

The adventures could provide months of fun for an experienced AD&D party. There is  quite a bit of room for customization and the background for horror as well as depravity is already woven into the fabic of these adventures. These are extremely well done.

 The last book is the 

L5C: The Kroten Campaign Companion

Get it right

HERE

This manual provides a wide variety of optional new

material for the game. The new items include:  Rules specific to artisans, magic items, alignment,

thief, and races.  Gambling games.  New weapons and armor.  New gods and cleric abilities.  New spells.  new magic items.  new monsters

 This isn't simply another cast off guide book this is a whole suppliment unto itself. This book gives an indepth look at the whole campaign and everything that goes along with it. There is metric ton of stuff that can be added to your games and its pretty much an essential part of the package. A lot of time, effort, and production went into this book and it shows. The author does a very nice job mapping all of the elements of the campaign and adventures right out for the DM. Its definitely in the spirit of the old TSR adventures of pick what you want, add where needed, and go play tonight in its design.

The last piece of the puzzle for this mega campaign is the L5 Map Pack!

It contains everything you need to get started on the road to adventure! 

 

Get Them

Right

HERE

On the the whole this twenty four page map pack provides exactly what the DM needs to run this material. Its solid, well done, and could potentially be used for other adventures if necessary. The maps are over all very well executed and much better then some of the paid products I've seen over the last two years.

The scale is well done and they are easily used with either counters or minis. I wasn't at all disappointed in the quality of this free download at all.

Using The L5A: The Kroten Campaign Guide and Package

For Your OSR Campaign

 

On the whole I was rather please with the efforts of the author and his associates. This a very, very, nicely done free package of material that really echoes the old TSR ethos. Strength through old school design and exacution. Used correctly this material could keep a game going in Greyhawk for months easily. The area is really nicely laid out for the DM to simply download and run.

This material is adult enough to really give experienced players a run for their money.

There is very little to keep a DM from using this material for Osric or any retroclone close to AD&D 1st edition. The monsters and encounters are well thought out and advance quite nicely as the DM moves along in the adventures. There is more then enough hooks to side track and then expand an adventure or location with the regions. All in all its a very well designed package and I was happy to stumble on it this evening. 

Review & Commentary On DDA 1 Arena of Thyatis By John Nephew For Your Old School Campaigns

"DDA1 Arena of Thyatis  is designed especially for the DM who want to sharpen his interactive skills. * Presenting the detailed layout of a Thyatian noble's mansion and maps of the multi-level Coliseum of Thyatis * For four to six characters, levels 2-3 * Brief guide to Thyatis legal system * New optional class, the Rake * Fast unarmed combat system, including disarming attacks * Special appendix on creating Thyatian names * Featuring The DM's Guide to Winging It""
If I asked if you knew about a BCMI adventure that centered around gladiators, corrupt senators, desert kingdoms, & ancient legacies most likely someone would point me to the second edition Dungeons & Dragons Dark Sun setting. But what if all of the above actually was connected with the ancient late Greco Roman lands from the Dawn of the Emperors setting?

Well DDA1 Arena of Thyatis has all that & the charm of the pit fighter days of the Conan film when Conan was coming up through the ranks to win his freedom. The idea here is that PC's are gladiators & more dealing with the ins & outs of the world of  Thyatian senator and end up fighting in the Coliseum of Thyatis.


DDA1 is a classic but a flawed one because this module should be run by an experienced dungeon master. He or she will be juggling lots of balls with this module from the relationship of the PC's with the senator to the ins & outs of pit life in gladiatorial area. I ended up modifying this module to expand out the origins for several PC's over the years when dealing with the Dawn of the Emperors gazetteer setting material. Getting involved with the affairs of the senator in DDA1 left a very sour taste in the PC's mouths for the faux Rome of the campaign. The incredible history of Thyatis and Alphatia are on full display here & the party gets a full dose of it scattered throughout Arena of Thyastis.



The PC's become embroiled in the comings & goings of the gladiatorial life as well as all it holds. While not an adult title. I had several fans of the show Rome scattered among our players & there were several indiscretions that happened off screen during the running of DDA1. These weren't simply adds on but events strongly connected with the royal senatorial affairs of Thyatis and Alphatia.  Stephen Fabian's style of the Dawn of the Emperors box set really adds a certain something to the over arching Greco Roman weirdness of the setting. As I said even though Arena of Thyatis isn't an adult title the cruelty of the adventure is there written in blood between the lines. There's lots of potential to really embroil the PC's in some real trouble. Echoes of a Roman style adventure with blood & the dark decadence of Rome is right there.



DDA1 Arena of Thyatis is the gateway drug for low level PC's to get themselves into the dangers of Thyatis life right from the start. DDA1 Arena of Thyatis isn't a classic but its a solid module for beginning PC's who have an experienced DM who wants to run the player's PC's through a whole blood bath of a module without simply knocking off the player's PC's with a simple pit trap.
There are even a few little world building bits thrown into DDA1 to set the stage for Thyatis life such as a name guide, maps of the  colosseum, & even the new class the Rake which actually fits the nasty side of Thyatis life. All in all DDA 1 Arena of Thyatis By John Nephew is a very underappreciated module in my humble opinion. If your looking a BCMI module that has a strong Roman flare then DDA 1 Arena of Thyatis By John Nephew just might be up your alley!

Review & Commentary Player's Handbook like a Fucking Boss By Venger Satanis

Christmas confession time I've been reluctant to do a commentary review Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss By Venger Santanis .Why pray tell? Well, because I'll be honest I'm not a Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons  dungeon master or player. I've tried the system , looked it over, wrapped my head around it, & sorry folks its not for me. Basically I did all of this at the behest of a player of mine & to convert or use some of the Fifth edition stuff if necessary. If you love it then fantastic! Go for it but for me & my players  Fifth edition hasn't made an impact. I'm an OSR & retroclone system dungeon master.
Fortunately Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss By Venger Santanis  is actually almost entirely system neutral.  So what the heck is it?! Well according to the Drivethru add;
"
This is a grab-bag of fantasy goodies for use with O5R roleplaying games.  That means everything from Basic D&D, AD&D, all the various retro-clones, systems similar but not identical (like Crimson Dragon Slayer), and 5th edition." This is more or less what Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss By Venger Santanis is.  This a bunch of PC options that can more or less add punch & power to your player characters. "

But it done in a slim style & with the razor style of Venger. But first let me say that Glynn Seal of Monkeyblood Design must be a God damn genius. The layout is clear crisp but easy on the eyes. The artwork is good and there's a fold out piece battle scene artwork piece that is killer. The philosphy of the book touches on something that I've been finding with folks in the OSR over the last couple of years;
"Though I grew up on Basic D&D in the mid-eighties, my old school tastes have straddled the dark, mistladen past, as well as, the contemporary
conventions of today.
My own fantasy heartbreaker, Crimson Dragon Slayer, had done away with the more cumbersome elements of the game. To me, the old school renaissance is about taking the essence and philosophy of the past and then making innovation after innovation until everything that seemed inordinate, clunky, and weird is made smooth - sanded by decades of theory, practice, common sense, and talking to other gamers with a shared passion for RPGs. But sometimes we can go too far, innovating ourselves right off the map."
This past summer, I decided to re-read the many fantastic posts at Grognardia. That inspired me to go back to basics, or Basic D&D. I kept all the funky stuff that I usually threw out - rolling for initiative, racial access to certain classes and level limits, different tables for saving throws and experience points… pretty much everything except descending
Armor Class, one spell per day magic-users, and worrying about circumstantial modifiers (just used
Advantage/Disadvantage).To my surprise, I really got into it. The minutia which, for many years, I assumed to be awkward relics that stood in the way of progress actually turned out to be absorbing and a whole lot of fun. When every point of experience is counted (fighting monsters, looting treasure, exploring, making the game world
your own, etc.), then every experience (point) counts. It matters if the PCs wait in ambush for the ogre to walk by or if they charge into the next room.
A couple dozen XP might be the difference between going up to level 2 and staying level 1. It's
amazing what simple pleasures you forget about after the game's been streamlined.
In my desire to maximize our enjoyment of the macro-game - the story, overall battles, interacting with NPCs, and exploration - I had neglected the micro-game that takes into account precious resources and their management. Not only arrows, torches, and rations but also gold and kills before
having to rest. Even silver pieces are cherished when they can be spent on training!"
So, even though I'll continue to run and primarily write for Crimson Dragon Slayer, that recent minicampaign reminded me just how awesome old school retro-clones can be. For all of our renaissance, innovation and renovation, there's something about the original iterations of the game that can't be beat… even with a ten-foot pole."

So it seems to be really well written, nicely thought out, from the heart, & then we get chart after chart of system neutral character options for your old school games. From 'fantasy sounding names' to 'dishonor & infamy tables'.
I admit the random 'CRIMSON PHASIC DETH WYZARD VORPAL' table is very METAL & well done. Its basically a metal table for battle wizards to get an extra edge & it would fit quite nicely into Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition  or Dungeon Crawl Classics game. Behold the sort of effect I'm speaking of;  "Invisible fire strikes 2d6 opponents for 3d6 exploding damage, as well as, affixing
them to the floor and walls as if they were caught in a spider's web." Cue guitar or keytar syth riff here!
Then he goes into short essays on bards, clerics, reflecting in battle as an optional rule, cut down swarm rules for play,  a fun list of possible character actions, words,and accomplishments in order to gauge your raw quotient of awesome in a given adventure, awesome point rules & that's it!?!

What the hell did I just read?! At thirty two pages this was way too short of a book. Venger is a solid writer & designer who needs to settle down & do more writing & designing. This is a three & a half or four star book because of the fact that I was expecting more from a book with the title
Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss. This book seems to be a catch all of random tables & PC options for players with a few solid random tables and it seriously needs a lot more expansion before it hits the four or five star territory. Alright Venger so you've been playing since the mid Eighties then I'd love to see more essays & actual options of yours on the subject. Players actually value your wisdom & by the fallen Gods I'd love to see more of it from you as a writer! This book should be about hundred pages with all kinds of bits & bobs about your gaming over the years that pepper your blog & books. Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss feels like a bit of catch all and in that regard I was a bit on the disappointed. But as a player optional reference well that's a bit of a different story. As a book of player options  Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss 

if your DM agrees to using it at the table its a book that works as a quick fill in & fill out for players. There are tons of optional pieces that the player & DM can easily & quickly work into an adventure on as a part of the on fly & seat of your pants style that Venger loves.  So in this regard its a four out of five. Understand exactly what your getting into when you purchase Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss.

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A Review Of Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #6 Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg System & OSR fanzine From Clint Krause & Red Moon Medicine Show

This afternoon I was so glad to get a copy of Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #6 from Clint Krause & Red Moon Medicine Show via email. Vacant Ritual Assembly is part OSR fanzine & part useful love letter to the Lamentations of the Flame rpg system. The reason that I was overjoyed is that its been a long while since we've seen quality of this level. VRA is a Weird Tales OSR style zine that plugs right into the actual Gothic aesthetic of LoFP. Clint Krause & company are not simply authors & designers they're actual on the ground players who are using all of  VRA's material at the table. This makes a big difference when it comes to the quality of the material.



A good example of the type of material that I'm speaking of is  The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem. 

This is a solid OSR style adventure with some really great weirdly dark adventure material that can be dropped who cloth into an LoFP style game or straight into a Gothic B/X Dungeons & Dragons game. If you haven't picked it up I suggest you check it out.

Now let's dive right into the disturbing & more then slightly off kilter world of Vacant Ritual Assembly issue # Six  filled to the brim with even more of the OSR madness that the Red Moon crew is known for.  First up is an effort by Klint Krause  with Grigoro’s Wonders Untold (pgs 4-7) is a traveling medicine show NPC deviants,freaks, mutants, lovable demons, fairies, & a huge variety of NPC's, magic items, & adventure opportunities galore. Each of these NPC's is fully developed with weird histories, background, & really nice details to be dropped right into your game campaigns. These folks are well done with lots of dripping ichoric background.
From Dunnholt It Rises (pg 8-15) is both an adventure waiting to happen & a campaign mini event.  Kathryn Jenkins  writes a thundering VRA horror themed adventure that lives up to many other Lamentations
island adventures with her own dark and abiding twists. This is an adventure that will have PC's needing to stop a campaign level event & the horrors that follow in its wake. This one could be used as a Call of Cthulhu Fourteenth Century period adventure as well.
The Gallows on Heretic Hill  (pgs 17-19) puts a brand new faction with a horrid twist right into the background of a campaign with several score weird bits that will have players guessing & pulling them deeper into the world of Heretic Hill.
A Light in the Black (pgs 20-21)  connects up with another aspect and faction of the Gallows on Heretic Hill with several twists of their own. These folks are very well done & have the feel of something that crawled out from the darker aspects of Ravenloft without the holding back that one would expect from that era of TSR adventures. Dark and twisted material without the usual thud & blunder efforts of some 'horror'.
Death Planted the Esther Tree   (pgs 23-37) is a dark,haunted house crawl  adventure by Kreg Mosier that ties into the Driftwood Verses material's darker and deeper down into the setting's weird bits. Well done but use with caution.
The Grimsly Hill Cherubs (pgs 38-  39) is a thumbnail  NPC profile/preview  for the upcoming book Undertow. Imagine if Norm Bates & Lord of The Flies had kids; well this would be those NPC kids.
The Lathnos Sugar Cane Crop  (pgs 40-43) is by Anxy P. & presents a horrific adventure encounter that is one part Brazilian mythological cane sugar weirdness & two parts Heart of Darkness blended in a blender set on eleven.
Emmy Allen: Of Wolves and Winter rpg fame  (pgs 44-51) is an interview with Emmy Allen, author of Wolf
Packs and Winter Snow that is not only decent but dives deeply into one of the OSR lights and the creative process behind not only the games but the deeper aspects of the game world. Emmy Allen's blog Dying Stylishly is well worth checking out.   It has lots of content for Of Wolves & Winter as well as deeper insights into not only the game itself but her choices as a writer/designer.

So is Issue Number six of Vacant Ritual Assembly worth getting? Well in my humble opinion absolutely, for the Gothic or OSR horror themed player or DM its well worth the price of admission. The material of VRA is an original take on Lamentations of the Flame Princess & it takes the game in a slightly different direction then most of the day to day Lamentations stuff I've seen. There's a far more dark fantasy & Weird Tales feel to  VRA then many of the other Lamentations efforts I've seen over the years.
In fact many of the adventures, encounters, etc. from this issue could be used with not only other OSR games such as Dark Albion or other retroclone systems. I can also see using it for other games such as Call of Cthulhu or even Dungeon Crawl Classic's Gothic adventure supplements. That being said I don't know if VRA could be used for a game such as White Wolf's Vampire Dark Ages or another WoD period product. I think that the tone, subtleties, & uniqueness of Vacant Ritual Assembly would be lost in the wash of game setting details  of World of Darkness. 

The thing about Vacant Ritual Assembly is rather unique tone, style,and content that is uniquely its own and belongs to its authors. I give issue number six five out of five for original content and sheer incredible OSR originality.Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #6  should be available sometime tomorrow when its released to the general public! So grab a copy! 


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Even More Commentary On Using The OSR Resource Book Dark Albion By Dominique Crouzet & RPGPundit For Extended Campaign Play

I just got back home after a very long industrial sewing machine repair job and I want to get back to talking briefly about the extended campaign play options available in the Dark Albion setting book. PC's in Dark Albion gain a social standing and have differences in their wealth in the beginning of character generation. Now one would think that this would make it rather restrictive for campaign or adventure play. Not so because there is one great equalizer going on. The Rose War which is tearing Albion apart from within. All of the violence, depravity, courtly intrigue, and more is going on right under the PC's noses. This is a grown up game of politics and violence set during one of the most brutal times Albion's history. This isn't a joke its a fact and it also brings up the fact that the events of Albion follow the real world history of the Rose War verbatim. One might think that this would make campaign planning a pain in the ass. Not at all. Here's why.

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Albion's version of the Rose War opens up the wounds of society enabling various classes to rub elbows and even get along together. This means that adventures can be set against or around the battles, courtly politics, and more of the Rose War. This isn't some for the DM to ignore instead its a central spoke of and theme of the book's setting. By 1st level your characters are minor pawns on the board of the war, 2nd and you've moved up in the world of Albion, and by Third level your a mover and shaker because of  the fact you've survived and your reputation follows you around for good or ill. There is a "Prior Event Table" that randomly determines backgrounds for PC's allowing their history to mesh together both on the short term and the long haul.But your going to have to expect blood and guts on the pavement of history. Even though there isn't any remotely gross or adult in Dark Albion there is a degree of uncertainty that pervades everything in the setting.



With so many royals, backroom deals, simple good old boy politics, and black magic plus demons thrown into the mix Dark Albion delivers on its promise of extended play by giving the DM reams of history to pull from for their own extended campaigns. This also plays into the idea of the domain gaming being the end all of this sort of an rpg campaign. Domain play is at its heart a beginning and Dark Albion provides a robust set of guidelines to keep a campaign going for years at a clip.


Because of the nature of the Rose War being both royal driven and such a bloody affair the PC's are going to need the favors of a royal as a patron and that enables the idea for and extended campaign within a military slant to it. This sort of a campaign supports the PC's being mercenaries and sharing an adventuring life on the road and more as they follow the progress of conflicts within the Rose War's arena  and how it will impact upon their patron. Dark Albion is the perfect hex crawling or domain level game because everything is set up out of the gate but not etched in stone as some would have us believe.



He who gets to sit on the throne are going to affect the lives of millions for generations to come. And its going to be the PC's who are going to help or hinder this effort. This is almost the complete opposite of other old school games where the outcome in a module is predetermined or completely rail roadie. There is a wide open playing field when it comes to extended campaign settings and levels. Dark Albion is an adventure setting with lots of areas just off the map that has the perfect venue for PC's to set up their own domains or to take over someone else's domain or kingdom through circumstances of war, battle, or other factors. This is another place where Dark Albion shines by providing a ton of old school resources to really show off the wide openness of the campaign setting. All in all you get a lot of bang for your buck from Dark Albion and it really makes getting that campaign going for years to come a snap.

Revisiting The OSR Resource & Campaign Setting Book Dark Albion by By Dominique Crouzet & RPGPundit For Your Old School Campaigns

Blood, horror,war, English terror, Rome, and more is exactly the sort of thing that your going to find on the fields of an alternative historical England in Rpg Pundit's Dark Albion. Good evening kids, I'm taking off a bit of time to do a quick retrospective on one of last year's most evocative and weird historical setting books to come out. I'm talking about Dark Albion by By Dominique Crouzet, RPGPundit This book puts your characters front and center in an alternative Earth's War of the Roses setting right into the middle of England. But this isn't any England that you know, oh no this is a world of Gothic horror and a setting where the heroes can and might go from being no bodies to national heroes or vile villains possibly all in the same campaign.
This is domain game driven rpg in both setting sense and the sense that it drives adventures around the spokes of the history of the game's settings universe. Imagine if Rome had never given up England, magick is very real, dark things slink at the edges of Empire, and the throne is up for grabs as the events of the Rose War cascade around your PC's.
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So is this a domain driven setting book? You can bet your behind it is! Here domain and station are everything and your PC's can be everything from knights, mercenaries, to adventurous souls who are ascending and threading their way through the pages of this alternative history setting. There are reasons why your party is adventuring and making a name for themselves in the world. Here's the dire events of the Rose War have taken a sinister turn and the cracks in the Empire are starting to show.

If your expecting the darkness to be there it is in both the interior belly of the beast of the setting and without as the forces of the world are watching the chaos of England with malevolent eyes. There are horrors outside of the edges of the world and they want to tear the place apart even as the Empire within England is striving to expand itself.

Dark Albion breaks two very old conventions of old school role playing, one is the domain as retirement or end game of adventurers and two is that lower level PC's can make a difference to the larger campaign world. The entire setting is one solidly constructed domain level adventure campaign setting  ripped apart by internal warfare & strife. This breeds all of the opportunities that PC's need to handle, exploit, and seek opportunities that will move them past their social rank and standing. Warfare and adventure breed opportunity as it feeds upon itself in Dark Albion. The second thing is that Dark Albion breaks the old school bollocks of lower level PC's not being able to affect change in the world around them. Because this setting is built upon the War of the Roses via an alternative Earth history conceit that Rome and not the Holy Roman Catholic church was one of the prime movers of history.This means there is plenty of opportunities for the DM to use the time lines of Dark Albion to make the setting their own. Even as the PC's are moving themselves through adventures,political intrigues and more as this is built right into the back end of  the character's stats via social rank.



Right from day one in Dark Albion the PC's are going to be wheelers and dealers in the politics of the dark fantasy setting influencing their liege or expanding his influence. This gives  you have something with immediate benefit to the game's background goings on and this is an on going issue that will haunt or help your PC's as they try to navigate the events and weirdness of the War of the Roses as it unfolds.
When I say that Dark Albion is a all encompassing setting I mean it, this was and is a passion of the author and we've already got a basic adventure right in the pipeline to set up the PC's in their new setting.

DAA1 - The Ghost of Jack Cade on London Bridge From  DOM Publishing  

isn't your usual first level adventure. This is both investigation and has a bit of political goings on in the background as well; "This is a low level (i.e. intended for 1st level, probably newly created, characters) introductory adventure, that occurs on London Bridge. This is mostly an investigation adventure, without dungeon crawls (though several buildings may be explored). It would be typically run in a single 4-5 hours gaming session. This adventure will be perfect to set the mood of a Dark Albion campaign."
I've gotten a chance to read through this adventure and I would say to thread your party of players through this one very carefully and there is a chance if played wrong with some bad dice rolls murders, PC death, and dismemberment may result. Some of the conceits to remember with Dark Albion is that this isn't our world at all but one seen through the dark glass lens of fantasy and the fantastic with its feet firmly in the grounding of real world history. The setting book even gives this sort of commentary and then twists it around. This makes Dark Albion have the sort of weird almost real world history vibe so disconcerting in some respects.


Here are ten o of my reasons why Dark Albion is highly regarded at my table:

1. Dark Albion is playable with any of the editions of the world's most popular fantasy role playing game. This makes converting or generating characters a snap. It gives plenty of utility for the table top and plenty of opportunities for the DM to mix or match their favorite OSR monsters as needed.
2.   There are seventeen (17) digital maps which blends in with the setting &  real world historical events while being true to the elements of the dark fantasy aspects of the campaign setting. This appeals to both the wargamer and DM in me. That means that things remain consistent throughout the product. 
3. A playable dark fantasy setting there are frog men in France waiting to rain down Lovecraftian horror on the countryside right across the way and there is the looming threat of the other worldly and weird that bleeds from every adventure aspect of Dark Albion. Pick a cult, region, and faction then expand upon it as necessary for your own home campaign. 
4. The setting is original & has a dark take on the deities,religions,and paganistic elements of Dark Albion which means there's plenty of room to put your own thumb print upon the setting and make it yours. 
5. The politics of Dark Albion are right there and in your PC's face they're not some extraneous background element that the players are not going to pay attention to. They are literally one of the motivating factors for the adventurers to get out and adventure so they can gain an advantage for themselves as well as their liege. 
6. An original take on magick that presents both reason and reward for those who wield the powers of the gods, supernatural, and tread the pathways in between. There is some very nasty pieces of the other worldly waiting for your PC's to fall off the razor's edge in Dark Albion. 
7. England is center stage and center of the PC's world with the back ground events of real history to abet one that has been twisted by the events of a weird world War of The Roses. This makes pull from history both easy and rational to get to the next leg of your campaign but it also means that a DM is free to customize things with a dark twist of their own. 
8. Royalty is both a blessing and a curse for the PC's as the world Dark Albion takes full advantage of the dark secrets, intrigue,and worse of the War of the Roses  to draw in the adventure right into the center stage of it all. 
9. There are plenty of foreign lands, weird mythologies, monsters, lost adventure locations, and more all in Dark Albion. You buy one book and its packed to the gills with everything you need to start a dark campaign at the edge of the world and beyond in one book! 
10. Dark Albion is a game which can be used over and over to create an endless sea of OSR goodness with your favorite version or retroclone so that you don't have to be tethered to an endless stream of splat and setting books. You can use it for Lamentations of the Flame Princess one day and AD&D 1st edition on another. There are so many uses for this book that its not even funny. 

Dark Albion is one of the best game setting books  of 2015 & its a solid background to set an OSR style campaign in, with the right group of players and a dungeon master this is a setting with the potential to keep you coming back to the table again and again.