OSR OSR News Roundup

[Mannahnin]

If there's one constant in the universe it is that older people will look at younger people, cluck disapprovingly, and make some comment about "kids these days." I, for one, really enjoy 80s and 90s hip hop and rap. Disregard for copyright is not new.

A lot of samples in the 80s were licensed, bear in mind. I was watching a YT video yesterday on famous samples and it noted that James Brown made a point of re-releasing some of his songs which had gotten popular for sampling (like Funky Drummer) in formats which made them easier to sample, to encourage the practice and get paid.

 

[Bill Zebub]

A lot of samples in the 80s were licensed, bear in mind. I was watching a YT video yesterday on famous samples and it noted that James Brown made a point of re-releasing some of his songs which had gotten popular for sampling (like Funky Drummer) in formats which made them easier to sample, to encourage the practice and get paid.

When JayZ released an a cappella version of The Black Album it felt like he was practically begging somebody to remix it. And when DJ Dangermouse did exactly that, mixing samples from it and the Beatles' "White Album" to make The Grey Album, lawyers for the Beatles rights (I can't remember who owned them at the time) went nuts, while lawyers for JayZ were curiously silent.

(I'm not particularly a JayZ fan, but the Grey Album is freaking brilliant. Anybody not familiar with it should go track it down RIGHT NOW.)

 

[amethal]

I suspect that a deep read of DTRPG would turn up a veritable cornucopia of copyright infringement, some purposeful, most probably done in ignorance.

The authors of one 3.5 OGL game I bought seemed completely unaware that there were some creatures in the Monster Manual that weren't open content.

I'm not even sure they understood the point I was making when I asked them about the use of Yuan-Ti in their product. This was back in 2009. It's still available on Drivethru and as far as I'm aware it's still got Yuan-Ti as a major race in their setting.

Ironically, they disabled the print option on the PDF, as they were worried about people printing it out and illegally sharing hard copies of their work.

 

[thirdkingdom]

Welcome to the third news Roundup in April. It's a dry, dry month here, with temperatures way above normal, perfect for hanging out indoors and checking out some new games!

• I don't know how I missed this, but Johan Nohr, the driving force behind Mork Borg, is raising funds for Fomoria, their game of folk horror. The campaign is well and funded, and is almost over at the time this goes live, but I wanted to make sure to get a mention of it in.
• Simon Taylor is raising funds for The Cohort, an adventure for Mothership where the PCs are tasked with tracking down missing corporate employees.
• Another Mothership adventure currently funding is Red Shift, an adventure where the earth's first colony ship has just been found, drifting through empty space, three centuries after it left the solar system.
• The Mimic's Vault has just released Tarotweaver, a tarot-powered game inspired by Cairn, His Majesty the Worm, Over the Garden Wall, and more.
• Mac, of Mac's Makes Games, has just released Under an Atomic Sky, a campaign hexcrawl for their NUKED! post-apocalyptic setting.
• When the Shimmer Fades is a free adventure for Shadowdark. Themed around corruption and loss of faith, it's an adventure for character levels 2-4, set in a town where greed led to sacrilege.
• Agamemnon Press has released their long-awaited (by me, at least!) Empire of Bones supplement in pdf on Drivethru. It's written for their fantastic Painted Wastelands setting, and looks at a city ruled by necromancers. The art is stunning.
• Tales from the Locker, Issue 1, is the inaugural volume of what is planned to be a regular fanzine for Pirate Borg.
• The prolific and talented Games Omnivorous has released The Flying Lootsman, an adventure for FLAIL!, in which a pirate with a flying ship is terrorizing the land, and it is up to the PCs to stop them and possibly claim the ship as their own.
• Barrel Rider Games has released White Box: Dungeon Adventures, a sort of starter set for their line of White Box retroclones.
• Mean Gits & Flashy Bitz is a supplement for Orc Borg that includes more classes, random tables, and guns. It does pretty much what you think it does.
• Another in the ever-growing list of Borg hacks is Shark Borg: Bloodwater Preview, a PWYW introduction to the game. I'm not exactly clear what the game does, just that it has a lot of sharks in it, which is never a bad thing.
• It's been awhile since I've seen anything by False Machine, but they've just released Gackling Moon, a gazetteer of sorts, written for the Gackling Moon setting.
• David Okum has released Star Borg: Dreadfire Sector, a look at a region in space written for Star Borg, with a setting introduction, new classes, races, and a mini-adventure.
• Depthwalker, an Enemy for Mork Borg, does pretty much what is says on the tin, presents a one-page, PWYW enemy (an animate old-timey diving suit) for Mork Borg encounters.
• Written for Ad Astra and CY_BORG, EUPNEUS is a setting/adventure/campaign set in the depths of space, and includes a tone of material.
• Almost exactly three years after I funded the original print run of the Into the Wild Omnibus I've started up a new Kickstarter to fund a reprint, as I'm now down to my last dozen or so copies. The Omnibus combines A Guide to Thieves' Guilds, Filling in the Blanks, and Into the Wild into a single book, and is all ready to be sent to the printers as soon as the campaign ends.
• I'm pleased to announce the Sabre is now fulfilling the US orders for Forbidden Psalms, the minis game based off of Mork Borg. You can purchase directly from the Forbidden Psalms US webstore, or through Sabre Games and Cards.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Another Mothership adventure currently funding is Red Shift, an adventure where the earth's first colony ship has just been found, drifting through empty space, three centuries after it left the solar system.

I'm sure this will be fine.

 

[thirdkingdom]

I'm sure this will be fine.

What could go wrong?

 

[Fenris-77]

What could go wrong?

Putting two pumps of vanilla instead of three into the elder horror's frappucino?

 

[thirdkingdom]

Welcome to the last News Roundup for April. I don't usually post links to software-related projects, but I've got two this week that were brought to my attention: a simple turn tracker on itch, and there's also One More Adventure on Steam, an explicitly OSR hexcrawl rogue-like game.

• Halls of the Witch Queen is a free adventure for Cairn 2e, in which the adventurers are enticed to explore a ruined castle that is rumored to contain a relic of the witch queen.
• There's likely to be increased interest in Mythic Bastionland as 3d6 Down the Line prepares to jump into their new campaign, and I saw the other day that Bart has launched The Watcher, a new myth for Mythic Bastionland.
• The prolific Joseph R Lewis has just released Kneel Before the Goblin King!, an adventure for Shadowdark.
• Hunted House is another adventure for Shadowdark, designed for characters of level 0-2.
• Will has released Invasion of the Space Troopers, bringing an invasion of space fascists to Forbidden Psalms (which Sabre is now carrying!).
• We've just started to carry Vagabond in the store, and I've seen the first 3pp supplement for it this week: Thrall is a warlock-themed class for that system.
• Yochai Gal has released a collection of pregens for Cairn 2e, for free, on Drivethru.
• Joel Hines has launched Citadel of the Sun Kings, a sword and sorcery desert adventure written by rpg luminary Michael Curtis.
• Brian Shutter, of Neon Lords of the Toxic Wastelands, is crowdfunding for Neon Bastardz, a Mork Borg compatible . . . riff, I guess, on NLoTW? It's a stand-alone game, but very similar to their earlier, excellent work.
• I'm crowdfunding another print run of the Into the Wild Omnibus, since I'm almost out of my last print run. The Omnibus is an almost 400 page hardcover, smyth-sewn book that combines A Guide to Thieves' Guilds, Filling in the Blanks, and Into the Wild.

 

[thirdkingdom]

Welcome to the first News Roundup for May, 2026. To forestall questions, yes, I am aware that OSE Month, but I try not to plug stuff until they go live, so I'll be looking at those projects next week, since the official launch date is the 6th. Last week was pretty heavy on the releases, compared to the previous few weeks, and it really seems like back to normal.

• The Lone Legend has released Gloam, a stand-alone system using tarot that is inspired by His Majesty the Worm, Burning Wheel, Forbidden Lands, Dolmenwood, and the excellent Neverland by Andrew Kolb.
• swanandravenstudio has released Tradlife, a short, psychological horror rpg based on the current trend of tradwifery.
• The excellent Machine Gods of the Noxian Expanse is getting the Mork Borg treatment, and is currently funding on Kickstarter. It's set in a post-apocalyptic, feudal society, ruled over by god-like AIs that once served man before the world fell.
• Shrine of the Cabbage God is an interesting, BX-style dungeon written for a party of 4th-6th level. It involves the shrine of a petty god, which always piques my interest!
• Published by Hellwinter Forge of Wonders, The Seventh Star is a pretty neat adventure written for Dolmenwood.
• I'm not familiar with Experimental Playground, but they've just released Kosmos, a rules-lite science fantasy game that looks pretty intriguing.
• Kaiser is a heroic fantasy hack of Mork Borg, and Heroes of Yore is a newly released player supplement for that system that adds tons of new options.
• The Lone Adventurer: Failed Harvest is an adventure written for OSE designed specifically for two person play -- one Referee and one player -- which between solo and traditionally party assumptions is not something we see that much of.
• The illustrious Rob Conley has released Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms: The Northern Reaches, a massive, much-anticipated release that expands their setting.
• Pickpocket Press has released the Argosa NPC Deck, a seventy card deck used to generate NPCs for fantasy games (it's technically system neutral).
• Swyvers is an excellent, urban rpg that centers around thieves, heists, and cons, and I was excited to see Rare Birds, a heist written just for Swyvers.
• Written for Shadowdark, The Strangled Wood is a forest-crawl adventure that features art by one of my favorites: Carlos Castilho.
• The Fantasy Trip is a classic, innovative (for its time) game that has seen more love over the past few years, and just learned there's a free fanzine dedicated to it! The Heresy zine is on it's 4th issue.
• The Last Broadcast is a fascinating hack of Mork Borg, a game of doomed pilgrims and decaying transmissions.
• Rod Waibel is crowdfunding Shadow Fables, a bestiary for Shadowdark based off of real-world mythology, fairy tales, and legends.
• Mythworks is winding down a Kickstarter for Breathless, Frighmare edition, a game of survival zombie horror.
• The reprint crowdfunding of the Into the Wild Omnibus is still ongoing, with a little more than a week to go. I'm almost out of the original print run of this book, and decided to order another run, but it's a large up front outlay, so I decided to run a quick Kickstarter for it.

 

[robertsconley]

Thanks for the kind words and shout-out for my Northern Marches release.