OSR OSR News Roundup

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Does Eric Bloat ever sleep?

 

[Nikosandros]

Does Eric Bloat ever sleep?

I was wondering the same. He rushes from one campaign to the next one. Reminds me of Steven Long when he was running Hero Games and churning one (huge) book after another...

 

[thirdkingdom]

Welcome to the second News Roundup in a 2026 that has already felt about six months long. ZineMonth is three weeks away, and I've already collected some interviews to promote projects; if you're participating in this year's ZineMonth and want some promotion please get in touch with me and I'll send over some short interview questions.

The first thing I'd like to plug is the free zine released by the NSR Cauldron Discord server. To me, this Discord has some of the same energy as the heady days of Google +, and the server has just released their first free zine: Sword&.

• No Seat Belts has released Hobs -- Household and Familial Spirits for Cairn, a supplement that does pretty much what it says on the tin. It also features art by Perplexing Ruins, a Roundup favorite.
• Another release for Cairn is Heron Watch, an adventure exploring the ruins of a keep built by an order of knights inspired by early airplane pilots. The art is pretty stunning. This release is free for a couple of weeks, after which you'll have to pay for it.
• A Change is Coming is a charming solo, one page rpg about a very hungry caterpillar feasting on the nearby countryside in order to metamorphize into . . . something.
• I am not familiar with publisher Juggle Bubble, but I see they've just released You'll Meet the Devil at a Crossroads, a GMless story game for 1-6 players about making choices.
• Before they Were Heroes is a character sheet of 0-level PCs in OSE.
• Another OSE release is The Isle of Ruk and the Dungeon of Klinis, a small sandbox setting with three-level dungeon.
• Doogface has released On Axionic Wings, a pamphlet scenario for Mothership 1e, designed to be run as a one-shot or an encounter en route to other adventures.
• One of my favorite publishers is Lazy Litch, and they've just released a free preview of their upcoming release: Demidirge, a mind-bending adventure for Shadowdark.
• Christian Eichhorn has released CLVSTER, a sandbox adventure for Death in Space and CY_BORG, set in a haunted asteroid mining belt.
• Temple of the Rotting Priest is a short, one-shot adventure for OSE featuring a three-foot tall kobold in a ten gallon hat looking to hire the PCs to track down a stolen shipment.
• James Spahn of Barrel Rider Games has released The Devil's Due, a game of grimdark gothic heroes.
• The ever-prolific James Floyd Kelly has released two zines: Runes #8, focused on Shadowdark, and Delver #19, for OSE. Like all OSR products, the content is largely system agnostic, and can easily be adapted into other games.
• Kabuki Kaiser has released The Player's Bestiary, a reference for solo players to create an imaginary gaming group.
• Written for Dolmenwood, The Classic Kindred Collection presents the four classic kindreds -- dwarf, gnome, halfling, and half-elf -- adapted for Dolmenwood.
• Knight Owl Publishing is funding The Vanilla Adventure, an updated version of the original game that was released in 2017. Knight Owl has a great track record with their releases, and we stock a number of their titles in store.
• There are two days left in the Kickstarter for the BX Advanced Bestiary, Vol. 3, covering monsters L-R from the OSE Classic tome, with options and variants to add spice to your encounters.

 

[thirdkingdom]

Welcome to the third News Roundup for January. ZineMonth is just around the corner; last week there were a lot of new releases, so let's see what this week brings us, shall we?

• The Fracture Between Jade and Ash is a system-neutral, city-based scenario that relies on the conflict between two factions -- Jade Serpents and Ash-born -- to ratchet up the tension in the adventure.
• Moonwhisper Magic has released What Hirelings, a collection of 35 NPC and hireling cards statted for general OSR games.
• The Frog Lord's Hold, by David Okum, is a system agnostic, swords and whiskers adventure with a heist theme.
• Black Knife Media has released Kobolds, a Class for OSE. It is presented as both race as class and race and class flavors.
• I'm a big fan of hexcrawls, and was intrigued to see Khazia: the Fasting East, a mini-hexcrawl for Shadowdark. It includes the map, locations of interest, and a bunch of character options to help provide flavor to the region.
• Roundup regular Paul Partington has released another solo gamebook for OSE: Desolation of the God King, an Egyptian-themed adventure that can be played without a Referee.
• Games Omnivorous has released Best Served Cold and Tomb of 1000 Gears, two minimalist, low-prep games for FLAIL in a slick double-side postcard format.
• I'm not sure if this is brilliant or Mork Borg finally jumping the shark, but I see that someone releases Cottage Borg, a cozy, slice-of-life game powered by the Mork Borg engine.
• I'd mentioned Roguelike Megadungeon before as part of ZineMonth 2022, and, after a number of setbacks, it's been released on Drivethru. The publisher is upfront about the delay, and it always makes me happy when a delayed product is finally released. I was really looking forward this release, as a big fan of the roguelike dungeon-crawling zine.
• Jeff Stevens is raising funds for The Savage Arctic, a campaign setting in the frozen tundra.
• I'm raising funds for Populated Hexes Monthly Issue 53, a location on a lonely moor featuring a korred and a haunted barrow, as well as a half-nixie class.