OSR OSR News Roundup

• Davide Quatrini has released 6 for .66, a collection of six new monsters for Mork Borg. This was actually released last month, but I missed it, and thanks to Davide for reaching out to let me know about it (if you've released something please let me know, as my gaze is not ominiscient!).
• DedZepplin has released Wilderlands, a game of heroic characters inspired by the works of JRR Tolkien and using a system similar to Cairn or Into the Odd.
• The charmingly named Valley of the Cannibal Cow is a short (two page) adventure written as part of the Zungeon 2025 Jam, and features a murderous bovine terrorizing a small, helpless village.
• el has released Nothing will come of Nothing, a short introductory adventure written for Cairn. It's meant to be deadly, and requires clever thinking and teamwork in order to survive.
• Escape to Blackboot Bog is another introductory adventure for Cairn. It's designed as a "pathcrawl", taking adventurers from point to point to illustrate gameplay.
• James Spahn is crowdfunding a campaign for the White Box Cyclopedia, a compilation of the core rules plus various supplements and additional materials that have been published over the years.
• Hobgoblin is the first issue of a new OSR zine, written to be system agnostic. There's not much more information on it, but it looks interesting.
• Underground Oracle Publishing has released the intriguing Bad Moon over Burnt Rock, a weird west adventure written for Mausritter. It looks pretty amazing.
• Tales of Argosa, by Pickpocket Press, is a fun low-fantasy game, and I stumbled across the Jester, a new playable class for ToA.
• The Elixer of Kosmodes is a 1st-level, city-based adventure for DCC, inspired by The Invasions of the Body Snatchers.
• When I saw the product entitled Cowborg, I must admit that my mind leapt to a different conclusion than what it actually is. Regardless, I'm hopeful that this, a hack of Morg Borg set in apocalyptic wild west, does for the weird west genre what Pirate Borg did for nautical-themed campaigns.
• Chainsaw Space Wizards is powered by Troika!, and takes place roughly 40,000 years in the future, with all of the, um, grimdark fun that suggests.
• There's only a couple days left in the Kickstarter campaign for Issue 42 of Populated Hexes Monthly. This issue, featuring cover art by Waclaw Traier, nine demons from other sources adapted to BX-style games, and extensive rules and guidelines for creating new demon types.

• The Carnivorous Caverns is an adventure for OSE that was released at the beginning of December; it's now available in print on demand from Drivethrurpg.
• I typically don't plug products that are older, but it this case I've been asked nicely to mention a couple of older releases that I either missed or have been recently updated. The first is Adam Dreece, who just updated Wondrous and Perilous Treasures for Old School Gaming (I'm linking to Vol. 1, but there is a second volume available). Additionally, Furvik's Destiny is an adventure for the same (compatible with Old School Essentials). It's beefy -- 71 pages -- and is meant to be played over several sessions.
• And secondly, James Giltner of Nwyrve Press released Slay and Plunder back in November. It's a new system, broadly compatible with other OSR-style games, but one in which the adventurers play the barbarians come knocking at the games of civilization.
• The oft-mentioned Wuggy has released Bloodhoney, an entry in the 2025 Zungeon jam and written for Cairn 2e. It's written as a short, horrific dungeon crawl.
• I may have been somewhat misled by the promises of Cow Borg, but Gem Room Games Dukk Borg looks to do what it says on the tin; present a gritty interpretation of the classic Duck Tales cartoon.
• In line with above, Demon God of the Duck Men is an adventure written for Shadowdark that's designed to be a short, funny one-shot adventure with plenty of fowl play.
• Pestilence at Halith Vorn is an OSRIC adventure written for a party of 4th to 6th level characters. There's a dungeon and hexcrawl region included in the 120 pages.
• Orbital Intelligence has released The Terror of the Stratosfiend (there's more to the title, but for brevity's sake), a megadungeon adventure designed to take characters from levels 1-6.
• Aqua Regia is an adventure (the first one I've seen, at least by a 3rd party), written for the amazing His Majesty the Worm.
• TrueTenno has released 100 New Spells for Into the Odd, which pretty much does what it says on the tin. They've also released Rime Walkers, an adventure based on Slavic mythology and written for OSR games.
• Gnarled Monster has released Beyond the Borderlands 3, the third and final zine in their series. This issue includes a constantly shifting megadungeon that changes layout each delve.

• Tanya Floaker is one of my favorite indy game designers. One of the things I really admire about their work is the versatility. Whether it's a tactical minis game of skeletons fighting against capitalism, or a game of an alien visitor trying to explore and understand Earth, they consistently produce interesting and thoughtful games. Tanya is currently raising funds for Mum Chums, a slice of life rpg about the people who care for children.
• Paul Wolfe is raising funds for Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain, a mini-setting/zine written for DCC, OSE, and Shadowdark designed as a teaching tool for creating one's own hexcrawls.
• Mill of the Twelve Dead is a project I've been looking forward to (I've got an interview with the creator coming up soon); it's an adventure written for OSE, designed for low-level parties.
• DedZeppelin has released Under the Keep at Ernost. It's written for Wilderlands, a Cairn hack designed to emulate Tolkien-esque style adventures, but can obviously be used with Cairn, Into the Odd, or any similar OSR-style games.
• We recently got in Lola Johnson's The Tower in stock, and I now see that they're kickstarting another project for ZiMo: Universe at Your Door: The Traveller is a solo journaling game where you play a voyager venturing into the depths of space, documenting what they find on their mission.
• Sometimes, We Were Infinite is an interesting looking project for ZiMo. It's written for Troika! and is a game set at the end of the universe, with art by Perplexing Ruins.
• In a News Roundup Exclusive (not really), the folks behind the Dragon Warriors Fanzine Casket of Fays have begun adding a POD option to the fanzine. Issue 14 is out in pdf, as well as in POD.
• Idle Catulary gets promoted here fairly frequently, and I see they've got a ZiMo project. Sharky is an underwater adventure written for Old School Essentials and is designed for readability and ease of play.
• Enter Him/\Love Him is itchfunding as an entry into the Tiny Worlds jam. It's an adventure about exploring another adventure, but is also about exploring a human body? There's a lot going on, but it looks promising.
• A great looking collaborative story-telling game is Knight Forlorn, in which the players control a lone wanderer on a futile quest. The art is evocative and gloomy, and fits the premise to a "T".
• Meldar16 Games is raising funds on Backerkit for their ZiMo project; Vapid Venus Ventures is a solo-journaling rpg all about terraforming Venus.
• Solo games seem to be really big this year, and another one that caught my eye is Realms: Etria, a collaborative story-telling game set in a pastoral, mysterious world.
• Out of Orbit is a fascinating, troupe-style collaborative game where the players take control of a group of survivors from a crashed starship, off course and alone, trying to get off-planet or make a home for yourselves where you are.
• The Rook and The Crook is a really neat looking, system-neutral, mind-bending dungeon adventure with some nice art and an interesting concept.

• One of my favorite creators is Zedeck Siew, co-creator of A Thousand, Thousand Islands and Reach of the Roach God, among others. They're currently raising funds for A Perfect Wife, with illustrations by additional Roundup Favorites Amanda Lee Franck and Scrap Princess. This game explores Malaysian mythology and asks the question: what happens when a female vampire is married to a misogynistic naughty word?
• I'd missed adding Roguelike Dungeon last week (I meant to, just forgot) and wanted to make sure I got it this week. As someone who plays a lot of Pixel Dungeon on my phone in an effort to doomscroll less this is right up my alley; a procedural, analog toolbox for creating sandbox-style megadungeons. This project is actually the continuation of a project from 2022.
• Nice Weather for Fish is currently funding on Kickstarter. It's a family-friendly game set in a fantastical version of 1000 AD Britain Peak District. The art is pretty amazing; it looks like J.V. West by way of Dr. Seuss.
• Transgender Deathmatch Legend is one of our consistent best-selling zines at Sabre, and I just saw the other day that the sequel to it (Transgender Deathmatch Legends II) is now out in pdf on itch. Put the HRT in hurt in this indie wrestling game!
• Soul to Keep is an interesting two-person game where you play one of two souls struggling for possession of a single body.
• Alex Kingsley is a writer and game developer with a small catalog of indie games that have been consistently selling out at Sabre. They recently published their debut fantasy novel, that is accompanied by an rpg, and they're currently hosting a game jam on itch for submissions using the game.
• Another interesting project currently funding on KS is When the Sky Comes Looking for You, an adventure written for Weird Frontiers and DCC that features a loan-shark luchadore and mutant bad-guys.
• Another zine that does really well for us is Perils and Princesses. I saw recently that they've just published a quickstart guide on Drivethru, as well as two new adventures: The Sweet Escape and Sweet Revenge.
• Written for the excellent Outcast Silver Raiders system, The Unfortunate Brotherhood is an introductory adventure designed for a party of 4-6 PCs.
• Timothy Brannan consistently produces excellent work, and I've been enjoying his series of new classes that drop every so often. His newest one is the Swan Maiden class, written for OSE and similar BX-style games.
• I'd mentioned Return to Perinthos a year or so back; it is the culmination of the Jennell Jaquays game jam on itch, a megadungeon written by dozens of creators and stitched together into a coherent whole by Luke Gearing. Backers should be getting their rewards soon, and if you didn't back but would like a copy of this tribute dungeon you can preorder at the link, above. All proceeds from the sale go to benefit Trans Lifeline.
• I'm running a short Kickstarter for Issue 43 of Populated Hexes Monthly. This issue is the last in the three part look at the Shadowlands, and in addition to a small town of mortals it includes three playable race-as-class options: dark creepers, dark stalkers, and my personal favorite, the dhampir.

GothmogIV said:

Would could you suggest some OSR books/settings like Gods of the Forbidden North?

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• I'm a big fan of Inkwell Ideas and all of their hex and mapping products, so I was excited to learn that Joe is raising funds for a collection of products to help liven up your hexcrawl or sandbox: four decks of encounter cards, plus printable hexes that you can arrange however you'd like (with artwork by Dyson Logos).
• The Electrum Archive, by Emiel Boven, is one of my favorite zine series of the past couple of years, and I was excited to see that Gav van Saxen has released a depthcrawl titled The Chrome Leviathan, written for the EA setting. It's a procedurally generated dungeon that gets weirder the further in you go.
• Adam Vass is crowdfunding a collection of five zines on Backerkit. They're all horror themed, and each one is a unique take on a specific genre of horror, with its own mechanics.
• Every Villain is a Loser is funding on Kickstarter: this GMless-optional game has the players take on the roles of henchmen, mooks, and minions of supervillains. EDIT: This project has funded, but you can still preorder through the KS page.
• Well, it certainly looks like A Perfect Rock took off and entered the stratosphere! Another game with the ability to play without a GM, this one has the players take on the role of survivors of a doomed planet, on a mission into outer space to find a new planet to settle: the perfect rock. It looks like it would be a great teaching game, since it also literally teaches about rocks and geology.
• Against Time and Death is a neat looking project, a duet-storytelling game about two ace operatives on opposite sides of a multiversal time war. It's got a fun, asynchronous mode of play, which makes it ideal for folks who may be on the busy side of things, and the art is simply amazing.
• It is no surprise to long-time readers that one of my favorite indie publishers currently active is Richard Ruane of R. Rook Press. They're currently raising funds for Silver Age, a game of broken, desolate towns in West Texas and the packs of werewolves that protect those citizens that remain after their lives were sold out for corporate greed.
• Just in time for Valentine's Day, Love for the Love Gods bills itself as "Cabin in the Woods", but for the Hallmark Channel. There's also some Truman Show thrown in there as well.
• In addition to their recently released alchemy folded pamphlet, Valluch has just released two new pamphlets: single use magical items and occult books.
• I've become a big fan of Castle Grief's release and Kal Arath setting, and they've just launched a new Kickstarter for the setting and system entitled Twin Sun Sutra.
• Sivad's Sanctum has been releasing setting material for their wild west hexcrawl piece by piece, a la Wolves Upon the Coast, and they've just released the ashcan version for their bespoke western system. Entitled In the Light of the Setting Sun it is slow funding on itch.
• Mars Belongs Dead is an interesting project funding Drivethrurpg as part of ZineMonth. This is the first project I've seen funding through Drivethru (with promised upgrades based on seller status), and deals with a post-apocalyptic Barsoom.
• I'm not familiar with Operant Game Labs, but they've just released a 13-room wizard's dungeon full of all manner of weirdness. It seems to be statted for generic OSR games, but the art is what sold me on this product; it's charming and lo-fi.
• Paul Partington has released Tomb of the Arachnomancer, a solo gamebook that's nicely hyperlinked, making it easy to play as a pdf.
• It's been awhile, but several years back I mentioned The Golden Age of Khares, a bespoke system for playing sandals and sorcery-style adventures; the author has just released a deluxe edition that looks pretty sweet!
• Kobayashi, the creative force behind Black Sword Hack, has just released Assassins, Demons, and Dying Gods, a neat game where ordinary citizens are tasked by a god-like creature to kill demons lurking among the populace.
• Die, Robot! is a fun-looking 0-level funnel for DCC set on the Purple Planet DCC setting.
• I've got two crowdfunding projects going on right now: Issue 43 of Populated Hexes Monthly, which includes a dhampir playable race as class, and a reprint of Vol. 1 of the BX Advanced Bestiary, as the offset version is out of stock and I need to do another print run.

thirdkingdom said:

I would recommend the following:
*Halls of Arden Vul.
*Reach of the Roach God/Thousand Thousand Islands
*I've been really impressed by The Shrike, by Joel Hines
*Oz/Wonderland/Neverland by Andrew Kolb
*The Nod hexcrawl series by John Stater

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