Beasties Forever

"Print Versions of the Cyclopedia of Common Animals" by Daniel J. Bishop are now available.

This is at the top of my RPG shopping list.

Animal Crackers

We interrupt this #RPGaDay2025 to inform you that the Cyclopedia of Common Animals by Daniel J. Bishop is "Now Available!" on DriveThruRPG.com. These are the DCC RPG stats you need for the real animals in your imaginary world.

Duck, Duck, Goose?

Does your old school fantasy role-playing game lack stats for common domesticated animals? Daniel J. Bishop has the solution with the Cyclopedia Domestica. Compatible with OSR games generally and Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG specifically, it provides the details you need whether you are a 0-level character braving the funnel with your farm animal, an adventurer with a secondary skill in animal husbandry, or a spellcaster dabbling in polymorph spells.

Cyclopedia Domestica: Being a Compendium of Common Domesticated Animals is available now at DriveThruRPG.com.

"Don't Have a Cow, Man!"

Things Break

Simple rules for equipment breakage are the topic of "Equipment Damage X in 6" in 1d30. It also integrates with the Shields Shall Be Splintered house rule.

Reactions Revisited Elsewhere

The usefulness of reaction rolls and tables is the topic of "Reaction: Action Rolls, Take Two..." in Pits Perilous. There is wisdom in the comments, too.

Wisdom from Elsewhere 2023-11-05

Reading books and playing actual role-playing games in person in relation to a self-awareness of one's own story is the topic of "RPGs and Storytelling Against the Nihilism of the Digital" in Monsters and Manuals. This is a topic worth revisiting.

Fight or Fright

I just read "Morale, Fear, and Madness" in Archade's Tower, and I think it has some ideas worth testing at the table. I tend to avoid (or neglect using) rules that impose or restrict player character behavior, as I believe situations and the manner in which they are presented ought to be enough to motivate a player's actions, but this article reflects a similar desire to preserve player agency—albeit in a mechanical fashion—and I think it might be a useful alternative. I'll be rereading the relevant section in the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG rule book and pondering the topic.

Crawling Toward New Spellcasting Options

For those who are interested in alternative interpretations of magic in Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Reverend Dak of Crawl! has posted Practicable Magic: Reliable Spell Casting for DCC RPG. I think it's worth a try.

Free RPG Day and Mutant Crawl Classics Playtests

Tim Snider of Savage Afterworld is reminding everyone that the 25th of June is Free RPG Day and that he is running two Mutant Crawl Classics playtests (also free) via Zoom. Read the details here. Be there!

Return of The Savage Afterworld

Tim Snider's post-apocalyptic gaming blog, The Savage Afterworld, has reawakened, so bookmark it and add it to your blog roll.

One Page Dungeon Contest 2020 Deadline Extended

The deadline for the One Page Dungeon Contest 2020 has been extended to 15 July. That's July the 15th! The Fifteenth of July! Two days before my birthday! Learn more (about the contest)!

Good Gaming Advice from Goblin Punch

April was a good month for blogging partly because April puts me in a whimsical frame of mind, but equally because I was on furlough due to the pandemic. For weeks I would devote my mornings to one or more of my blogs, and it was pleasant indeed. I resumed working at my job later in the month, and alas, I'm posting less frequently. Even now, I only have time to point readers to someone else's blog. Advice for OSR DMs is a nearly perfect summary of the style of fantasy adventure gaming I prefer. It's not the only style I like, but as far as level-up role-playing games go, this is exactly how I do it. (I'm flexible on 0-level funnels, though. Sometimes they are the right way to start a campaign; sometimes they're not.) Goblin Punch has plenty of other insightful articles like this one, so plumb its depths, spelunker!

Listen to the Sounds of the Aftermath

Glowburn, the podcast of the Mutant Crawl Classics RPG is now broadcasting from somewhere in the desolate wastelands or mutated jungles of what remains of our planet. Hear the disembodied voices of Judge Bill and Judge Forrest as they navigate life after the apocalypse.

Go now!

Go!

Not Necessarily Beautiful, But Mutated

The Mutant Crawl Classics RPG Kickstarter is rapidly approaching End Times, so back it already! To accelerate your mutation, I encourage you to listen to these interviews with the game's creator, Jim Wampler:

• Spellburn, Episode 43
  
• Sanctum Secorum, Episode 15
  

The Mutants Are Coming

I still haven't had a chance to run or play Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG yet (although I backed the 4th printing Kickstarter project and I now have the softcover copy as I wait for the hardcover copy to be shipped), and now I have this tempting me: the Mutant Crawl Classics Kickstarter project. It's perfectly reasonable as far as Kickstarter projects go, so I'd be kicking myself if I missed the chance to back it...

Blasted Kickstarter.

Pits & Perils Now Available in Hardcover

The excellent old school role-playing game Pits & Perils (by James and Robyn George) is now available as a hardcover book entitled The Collected Pits & Perils. Read "The Collected Pits & Perils... Is Here!" in Pits Perilous for more information on this minimalist retro-gaming masterpiece.

NB: The various Pits & Perils PDFs by Olde House Rules are available at DriveThruRPG.

Original Dungeons & Dragons Supplements Return

The four original Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D) supplements are now available in PDF format once again:

• Supplement I: Greyhawk
  
• Supplement II: Blackmoor
  
• Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry
  
• Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes
  

Original Dungeons & Dragons Is Affordable Again

Yes, our beloved OD&D is both available and affordable again (in PDF form at least), and you can read a better article about it here in Semper Initiatavus Unum.

OSR Search Logo

Every good Web log of the Old School Renaissance needs a logo to link to OSR Search, or at least that's the conclusion I finally came to after seeing the excellent one at Zenopus Archives. So, here's mine. Someday I'll try harder.

Return to the Keep

It's been a long time since I've read The Keep on the Gaming Lands, the gaming Web log of Mike Mearls, and although he hasn't posted anything since August 2013, I must say I miss it. I prefer his turn-of-the-millennium creations (PERP, SEIZE THEM!, HAND AXE), but I've also enjoyed what he's written on the subject of revisiting classic editions of Dungeons & Dragons such as as OD&D, Basic/Expert D&D, and AD&D, which brings me to a couple of his articles.

What You Know, Who You Know addresses the difference between acquiring knowledge in early edition D&D (sages) and later edition D&D (player character knowledge skills), and reconciles them quite nicely.

I Am Not a Storyteller is a reminder that the fun of being a DM (or GM) for him [and me as well] is not in crafting plots (railroading), but in creating possibilities for improvisation. The last paragraph reveals his preference for using OD&D and (I assume from the term "BD&D") Basic D&D.

Please update The Keep on the Gaming Lands, Mearls! Everyone else, check it out!