Swords & Stitchery

James Mishler Games has been putting out some amazing OSR products over the years. Joining the ranks of his various Labyrinth Lord reference pdfs is a brand new set of OSR style Advanced Labyrinth Lord Adventure Record Sheets . Basically these are adventure, session, location, & stat journal sheets that let the players & DM's keep track of their Labryth Lord Advanced game sessions. According Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Last night I sat down with a group of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players & it was an interesting walk through about their game campaigns. Their dungeon master is going on vacation & asked me to step in. Whoa.. I took a very large step back from this. I'm already engaged with an on going OSR  campaign which has been running for a very long while. So I'm putting the breaks on stepping in &Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

"Trapped in the mysterious Castle Amber, you find yourselves cut off form the world you know. The castle is fraught with peril. Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. Somewhere in the castle is the key to your escape, but can you survive long enough to find it? This module contains referee notes, background information, maps, and Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

"The QUICK START CHARACTER CLASS SHEETS BY-THE-BOOK are designed to enable a group of players, new or experienced, to quickly create 1st level characters of the various races, classes, and racial classes available in Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Labyrinth Lord. Each race, class, and racial class is detailed on a single sheet with all the information needed to begin play with that class, Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

I posted a picture on Twitter this morning of the unholy trinity of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition books which have destroyed hordes of player's PC's over the years. But folks have lost their marbles over the fact that posted about Geoffry O'Dale's Judge's Guild adventure Inferno  . The fact that I was thinking about running with original Dungeons & Dragons or a retroclone.What noNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Today I've been quietly doubling down on the OSR, since about '08 I've been mostly a silent observer of the OSR. I didn't start venturing into the movement until I started this blog. But over the last twenty four hours I've gotten two older gamers have paid a visit & left a very nice prezzie for me. Oh yeah the classic Judge's Guild Inferno By Geoffry O Dale. This my copy that hasn't been Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Castles & Crusades while going over the The Castle Keepers Guide (CKG) again for the ninth or tenth time now. I've sort of last track at this point but its been very interesting to say the least.I'm not entirely convinced about fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons taking over & saturating everything lately in the rpg table top hobby scene. I understandNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Hobgoblin artwork by LadyofHatsThe Wangliang  have been a part of 'Old Earth' & Hyperborea since before humans first appeared beyond the 'fourth wind'. These beings constructed some of the earliest civilizations & cities in the wake of the 'Green Death'.AD&D first edition HobgoblinIt is speculated  that there there were millions of Hob warriors pulled from the Underworld & natural world byNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Kickstarter is filled with all kinds of projects possibly worth your attention but two that have caught my eye. The first is a solid DCC Cthulhu Mythos/Horror Western mash up called Dark Trails. This book has been making waves across the DCC/OSR community & I don't see it going away anytime soon.  "The largest challenge for my new life on the frontier was building shelter and pulling food Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

After having a beer tonight with some friends & fellow gamers, we got into a heated discussion about Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's Old Earth. Everyone agrees with the fact that AS&SH's world campaign setting takes place millions of years in the future. So what happened to the 'Old Earth'?What if I told you that sometime way down the line time, the laws of physics, & generalNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

"These despicable humanoids are the unhallowed progeny of swine dæmons and an abominable tribe of Picts. They are stocky, short-legged, thick-boned, and heavily muscled, but their features are horribly disfigured and oft porcine, with pronounced lower canine teeth. In the wilderness they are largely nocturnal, but in subterranean lairs not necessarily so. Orcs are temperamental and Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

"Immortals lie chained atop a mountain in the Broken Lands. Their bonds relentlessly drain their power while demons cavort with glee around the wispy barrier, as strong as any prison. Have you the courage to embark on a dangerous mission for the materials necessary to craft an artifact? If you survive that task, you must then assume the Identities of legendary heroes of Darokin and face Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

In last night's session I pulled in a ton of S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax when the player's PC's did a raid on an Egg of Coot slaving center. There were row after row of cryotubes packed back to back.  The players encountered egg minions in light scout armor based on some of the artwork from S3. The Egg kept taunting the party as it attacked the minions with the knowledge Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has called for help, asking for you to investigate a mysterious cave in the Barrier Peaks, and it's unlike any other cave in the world. In fact, it's not really a cave at all. It does however have alien inhabitants—crazed robots, eerie androids, and even stranger things—who endanger the world. The adventurers must confront these threats and navigate the Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Some of the older issues of 'The Dragon' has been crossing my radar & nightstand of late. There were lots of articles that would go on to form the foundation of the backbone of Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition by James Ward & later on to form the basis of Gamma World 1st edition. Wayback in February  I wrote about the gods of Greyhawk taking an interest in events on Gamma Terra. A lots happened Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

 Last night I dreamed that there was a box set of the city of Khromarium from Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. There were maps of the city & various hard core NPC encounters, variable maps of the city to explore & so forth. Then I woke up completely disappointed or did I?! Ages ago when Second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was doing setting after setting box sets & various Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

The Dragon magazine by its very nature from the early days has more of a tool box feel to it. That makes it relevant to even today's OSR scene & from there we're going to dive into one of my favorite issues. The Dragon Magazine, Issue 10 from 1977 has so much good stuff in it from Tom Wham's Snit Smashing to some of the more interesting angles for getting rid of loot.  I always wanted toNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Having a campaign element in mind sometimes means going back to the collective well of Dungeons & Dragons original goodness for adventure advice & elements. In this case its reaching back into the archives of Casa De Fabiaschi & pulling out The Dragon magazine issue #9 from 1977.At first it doesn't seem all that important an issue but let's look a bit deeper into those contents shall we Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Blackmoor the name conjures up images of everything from the First Fantasy Campaign to some of the corner stones of Dungeons & Dragons as we know it. I'm not going to get bogged down in gushing about Dave Arneson  co creator of Dungeons & Dragons. But I quietly keep my hand churning in the Blackmoor fandom. When Havard's Blackmoor blog & the Comeback Inn  announced a new free Blackmoor Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Its Memorial Day here in New England & most of the last two days I've spent it with some veteran friends & players of mine listening to war stories. If your reading this & a veteran thank you for your service.One of the things we began to discuss was Dragon magazine issue #62 was released in June of 1982. And its notable for two things the ground breaking article Point of View Half Orcs By Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0