As usual, there are at least a couple of new PDF releases I want this week. Which ones do you want? This week we have 9 new PDFs, 4 new WotC rereleases, 8 adventures for your favorite systems and the Spotlight of the Week is an OSR product, Monsters & Magic. They range from Oz to My Little Pony. Enjoy!HARP Martial Law
HARP (High Adventure Role Playing) is the trimmed down version of Rolemaster. It has many of the same concepts of Rolemaster, but is designed for ease and speed of play. This week we see a new release of Martial Law which gives us critical hit tables and new options for combat. For those who think HARP was too lite and Rolemaster is still too heavy, this is a nice compromise.
Adventures in Oz
The Land of Oz has captured the imagination of fans for years. For me, the film was one of my first encounters with fantasy. The world of Oz is an excellent setting for adventure with its many unique characters, “monsters” and locations. Did you know there were 14 Oz books written by the original author, L Frank Baum? The setting is deep and rich with many details just made for a night of table-top adventure. This game looks to allow a group to play within that world. This is actually a rerelease of the PDF, but this time they have jumped on board the Pay What You Want bandwagon. Now’s your chance to check out the world of Oz.
Shadowrun Fifth Edition Preview #4
Catalyst Game Labs continues to let us peek into the newest, upcoming edition of Shadowrun. This 4th installment takes a look at the basics of combat, one of the key features of any Shadowrun game. Here’s our chance to see what they have in store for us. As usual, this preview is free.
Dracopedia The Bestiary
This is an odd rpg book. It is an art book designed to enable DMs to create their own mythical creatures. It features a number of creatures from real-world myth, provides some background information on them and a variety of pictures. From there a DM should be able to use that information to add selected creatures to their own world. The book is written and drawn by William O’Connor, one of the more well known rpg artists out there (I love his work). It’s a book people will want for the art alone.
The Singularity System
Most generic rule systems try to be open enough to handle all forms of genres and styles. This system wants to provide an open system for one genre, science fiction. It also leaves out any sort of setting, leaving that design to the group using it. It was designed to be a core base to which additional material could be added on as desired by the consumer. If a group wants giant robots then the group can add that in seamlessly. If they want cyberware, that can also be added in with ease. Basically, instead of providing a setting with all the trappings therein, a group gets the rules and then adds in what they want for their own setting. A couple of add-ons, or as they call them modules, have already been released; Wild Talents (Psionics) and Biotech (cyberware).
Ponies for Pathfinder
If you look hard enough you will find almost anything for rpgs. In this case, this supplement for Pathfinder is a look at a new PC race, the pony. In its 54 pages it covers new feats, new spells, new gods, new equipment, new magic items, and other options for the pony. It does all this in a serious manner, without making a joke of it all. In effect, this is a thinly disguised way to add My Little Pony to Pathfinder.
Osprey Adventures
Osprey Publishing has made a name for themselves with a massive series of military history books. It’s likely you’ve seen a bunch of their books at your local brick and mortar store. They recently created an imprint that takes a look at the myths and legends of our world. These are excellent books for either running a campaign set in mythic history or as source material that can be adapted for your own world setting. This week they release two more of their books into PDF form.
The War of Horus and Set (80 pages) takes a look at ancient Egyptian history and mythology. It not only goes over the stories of the famous war of these two gods, but also includes a look at the real world history of Egypt around which the stories are based. Of added value is information on the human troops and weaponry involved.
Dragonslayers From Beowulf to St George(80 pages) presents those characters from mythology that slew dragons. While the book includes the better known heroes, it also includes some of the lesser known slayers of dragons that many have never heard of before. Included is a look at what these stories meant to society and theology.
Anointed: Mantle of the Gods
This is a fantasy game set in a world still in its Bronze Age. It is a world dominated by the gods, where they still affect the world every day. The champions of the gods are the Anointed, the player characters. As such they complete the tasks and quests as outlined for them by their gods, as well as pursue their own agendas. This game is based off of New Gods of Mankind, a unique rpg that lets you play one of the gods of this world. Note that currently the game is Pay What You Want, but it is going to regular pricing on 6/20.
Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns
Also this week we have a PDF release by EN Publishing, part of the group that owns this site. When it was first released for 3.5E it proved to be very popular and this is the product as updated for Pathfinder. The PDF provides ready to run games that can be found at Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns in any type of setting, historical or fantasy. The book gives us 29 games, complete with how to run them with the Pathfinder rules, which cover a wide gamut of types from the martial to the erudite. This book is for people looking to provide a complete setting or to throw something different at their players.
WotC Classic PDFs
FOR6 The Seven Sisters (2E)
PHBR11 The Complete Ranger’s Handbook (2E)
PHBR12 The Complete Paladin’s Handbook (2E)
Player’s Option Spell & Magic (2E)
Adventures
Tyranny of Greed – Pathfinder, Level 3.
The Sunken Pyramid – Pathfinder. Level 7.
Road to Destiny – Pathfinder. Level 2.
Fleabitten: Neither Here Nor There – Tunnels & Trolls. Solo.
Colossus Arise – DCC. Level 8.
A Gathering of the Marked – DCC. Level 0.
Five Story Drop – Savage Worlds. Neo-Noir.
The Trellborg Monstrosities – Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu.
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
Monsters & Magic
“Heartbreakers” are those D&D retroclones that offer us something new. This latest OSR fantasy game sets out to do that with a set of rules that integrate some more modern concepts into its design while still retaining the old-school feel and attitudes of 1E. While the rules can be used as the source of a group’s game, the system is actually designed to allow for the complete use of older modules and rules with little to no special integration required. You will be able to pick up your favorite 1E adventure and run it without any changes, all the while using Monsters & Magic’s updated system. This is great for people who have all the older material but are looking for a more modern system to run them in.
HARP (High Adventure Role Playing) is the trimmed down version of Rolemaster. It has many of the same concepts of Rolemaster, but is designed for ease and speed of play. This week we see a new release of Martial Law which gives us critical hit tables and new options for combat. For those who think HARP was too lite and Rolemaster is still too heavy, this is a nice compromise.
Adventures in Oz
The Land of Oz has captured the imagination of fans for years. For me, the film was one of my first encounters with fantasy. The world of Oz is an excellent setting for adventure with its many unique characters, “monsters” and locations. Did you know there were 14 Oz books written by the original author, L Frank Baum? The setting is deep and rich with many details just made for a night of table-top adventure. This game looks to allow a group to play within that world. This is actually a rerelease of the PDF, but this time they have jumped on board the Pay What You Want bandwagon. Now’s your chance to check out the world of Oz.
Shadowrun Fifth Edition Preview #4
Catalyst Game Labs continues to let us peek into the newest, upcoming edition of Shadowrun. This 4th installment takes a look at the basics of combat, one of the key features of any Shadowrun game. Here’s our chance to see what they have in store for us. As usual, this preview is free.
Dracopedia The Bestiary
This is an odd rpg book. It is an art book designed to enable DMs to create their own mythical creatures. It features a number of creatures from real-world myth, provides some background information on them and a variety of pictures. From there a DM should be able to use that information to add selected creatures to their own world. The book is written and drawn by William O’Connor, one of the more well known rpg artists out there (I love his work). It’s a book people will want for the art alone.
The Singularity System
Most generic rule systems try to be open enough to handle all forms of genres and styles. This system wants to provide an open system for one genre, science fiction. It also leaves out any sort of setting, leaving that design to the group using it. It was designed to be a core base to which additional material could be added on as desired by the consumer. If a group wants giant robots then the group can add that in seamlessly. If they want cyberware, that can also be added in with ease. Basically, instead of providing a setting with all the trappings therein, a group gets the rules and then adds in what they want for their own setting. A couple of add-ons, or as they call them modules, have already been released; Wild Talents (Psionics) and Biotech (cyberware).
Ponies for Pathfinder
If you look hard enough you will find almost anything for rpgs. In this case, this supplement for Pathfinder is a look at a new PC race, the pony. In its 54 pages it covers new feats, new spells, new gods, new equipment, new magic items, and other options for the pony. It does all this in a serious manner, without making a joke of it all. In effect, this is a thinly disguised way to add My Little Pony to Pathfinder.
Osprey Adventures
Osprey Publishing has made a name for themselves with a massive series of military history books. It’s likely you’ve seen a bunch of their books at your local brick and mortar store. They recently created an imprint that takes a look at the myths and legends of our world. These are excellent books for either running a campaign set in mythic history or as source material that can be adapted for your own world setting. This week they release two more of their books into PDF form.
The War of Horus and Set (80 pages) takes a look at ancient Egyptian history and mythology. It not only goes over the stories of the famous war of these two gods, but also includes a look at the real world history of Egypt around which the stories are based. Of added value is information on the human troops and weaponry involved.
Dragonslayers From Beowulf to St George(80 pages) presents those characters from mythology that slew dragons. While the book includes the better known heroes, it also includes some of the lesser known slayers of dragons that many have never heard of before. Included is a look at what these stories meant to society and theology.
Anointed: Mantle of the Gods
This is a fantasy game set in a world still in its Bronze Age. It is a world dominated by the gods, where they still affect the world every day. The champions of the gods are the Anointed, the player characters. As such they complete the tasks and quests as outlined for them by their gods, as well as pursue their own agendas. This game is based off of New Gods of Mankind, a unique rpg that lets you play one of the gods of this world. Note that currently the game is Pay What You Want, but it is going to regular pricing on 6/20.
Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns
Also this week we have a PDF release by EN Publishing, part of the group that owns this site. When it was first released for 3.5E it proved to be very popular and this is the product as updated for Pathfinder. The PDF provides ready to run games that can be found at Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns in any type of setting, historical or fantasy. The book gives us 29 games, complete with how to run them with the Pathfinder rules, which cover a wide gamut of types from the martial to the erudite. This book is for people looking to provide a complete setting or to throw something different at their players.
WotC Classic PDFs
FOR6 The Seven Sisters (2E)
PHBR11 The Complete Ranger’s Handbook (2E)
PHBR12 The Complete Paladin’s Handbook (2E)
Player’s Option Spell & Magic (2E)
Adventures
Tyranny of Greed – Pathfinder, Level 3.
The Sunken Pyramid – Pathfinder. Level 7.
Road to Destiny – Pathfinder. Level 2.
Fleabitten: Neither Here Nor There – Tunnels & Trolls. Solo.
Colossus Arise – DCC. Level 8.
A Gathering of the Marked – DCC. Level 0.
Five Story Drop – Savage Worlds. Neo-Noir.
The Trellborg Monstrosities – Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu.
Spotlight: Most Interesting PDF of the Week
Monsters & Magic
“Heartbreakers” are those D&D retroclones that offer us something new. This latest OSR fantasy game sets out to do that with a set of rules that integrate some more modern concepts into its design while still retaining the old-school feel and attitudes of 1E. While the rules can be used as the source of a group’s game, the system is actually designed to allow for the complete use of older modules and rules with little to no special integration required. You will be able to pick up your favorite 1E adventure and run it without any changes, all the while using Monsters & Magic’s updated system. This is great for people who have all the older material but are looking for a more modern system to run them in.
Welcome to MONSTERS & MAGIC, an "Old School Renaissance" fantasy roleplaying game with a difference! Combining the atmosphere of classic fantasy games with modern RPG mechanics, Monsters & Magic lets you use old school fantasy gaming material with little or no conversion with a new and innovative set of rules. Battle giants, defeat dragons, explore deadly dungeons and mysterious wilderlands - and bring your favourite adventures, supplements, spellbooks, and bestiaries to brilliant new life!
In this book you'll find a full-featured fantasy roleplaying game, including:
- the Effect Engine, a modular open-license rules system
- action-packed adventure from 1st to 20th level and beyond
- rules for castles, kingdoms, guilds, and warships
- Silvermoon, an introductory adventure for levels 1-4
- new rules for alignment, hazards, encounters, treasures, epic and mythic gaming, and more!
