So you want to take a party from Level 1 to 10+ Ehh?
Free as it was allways meant to be - no charge free distribution
The Great Flanaess River Adventure
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rrola91bka8e3qy/AAALdfzA99LDdgZJfXKUTtwGa
Trick or Treaters Assemble! Jack Skeleton has put out a hit on the Easter Bunny!
After chipping his tooth on a rotten Cadbury Egg! Jack has decided the Easter Bunny needs to die.
Bring Jack the head of the Easter Bunny and receive lifetime supply of Star Bats Crack-O'Chino Drink!
What is your Halloween Costume? Superhero, Witch, Ghost, GI Joe, Pokebeast, Cowboy, Rock Star, Gladiator, or Serial Killer?
Don't forget to fill your bag with loot and candy!
Simple roll stats and then roll under mechanic
BE Those are very nice
You need visual aids for Troika
A very useful tool for your OSR Toolbox
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/298057/A-Rasp-of-Sand
This reminds me very much of Emily Allens Adventures or Mr. Reed's Ten Down.
It has a very OSR vibe to it. Could be very useful in your toolbox to have generational map for the characters. A good why do we delve is always useful.
I used the KELP Forrest a few times now as well as the The TWILIGHT location and encounters tables.
You need to watch this movie https://youtu.be/Q81Yf46Oj3s?si=wyeNGr8NqIF54VJG Nightmare Alley
I believe elves have a 2 in 6 tracking skill in BX
I allways give a PC using a trained bloodhound 4 in 6 Tracking
Longwitner but you will most likely should add some hex mountains to the north of the map
Big List of Adventures That Work Well In Dolmenwood
Most of these are great 1st Level Starters
From this Reddit Post https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/zlzrzf/big_big_list_of_osr_dolmenwood_fairy_tale/
-Most of these are for 1st Lvl D&Dish Characters
Forest of Doom - Dragon Magazine #73
The Lost Cache of Father Thomas - Footprints #5
Gone Fishing - Beer & Barbarians
Winter's Daughter by Gavin Norman
Wet Grandpa - Evey Lockhart
Chagmat - Dragon Magazine #63 -admitally it needs some work
Quest for Midas Orb - Dragon Magazine #61
DF27 Red Tam's Bones - Dragonsfoot
Wandering Trees - Dragon Magazine #57 -
The Witch of Windcrag - Dungeon Mag #51
Garden of the Hag Queen - Dragonsfoot
The Fell Pass - Dragon magazine #32
The Shadowed Keep by Kramer
The Gnomes of Levnec
Lamentations of the Gingerbread Princess
The Red Demon in The Vile Fens by Gus L
Pollute the Elfen Memory Water by Michael Raston
Yrchyn the Tyrant by Kramer
The Inn of Lost Heroes by Spahn
The Purple Worm Graveyard by Bryce Lynch
The Pale La
A good sci fi open source hex crawler is a much needed thing
Ye Ancient Marriage of Dolmenwood and Midderlands
I guess it is not widely known anymore that these two setting are compatible and work well together to create a huge setting.
https://speakwithdeadtrees.blogspot.com/2020/01/dolmenwood-in-emeraude.html
You may want the Bestiary for Galgenback https://theillustrioussanguine.itch.io/mb-galgenbeck-bestiary
Free Galgenback Map & Events https://www.reddit.com/r/MorkBorg/comments/ixwc5r/made_a_galgenbeck_map_d6_events/
bunch of Galgenback stuff https://morkborg.exlibrisrpg.com/tags/galgenbeck
The Raining Caves for Mork borg https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/402101/The-Raining-Caves?filters=100215_0_0_0_0
Restocking the Dungeon
Go to Campaign Status DocumentsIf you’re running a sandbox campaign with ‘crawl-type scenarios (dungeoncrawls, hexcrawls, urbancrawls, etc.), you’ll most likely want to restock those scenari
A good article on restocking https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/48593/roleplaying-games/campaign-status-module-restocking-checklists
DM Angelo's easy method was to have multiple versions of the same adventure. So If we left and came back. Then he just ran one of those other versions.
My method is to have new gang bosses and a few new or renovated rooms. The players old map will mostly match up.
Once to just have fun with them. I had the main entrance sealed in while they were away. Some Holy Knights came by and decided to seal up the main entrance real good. The players remembered hearing about other entrances from captives while down there the last time. So this forced wilderness exploration to find new entrances.
If you like Barbarian Horseman You want Valley of the Five Fires
Levesl 4-9 it suggest AD&D1e and BX compatible
Lots of Hex Maps and starter dungeons inside.
Nex Spellcasters Classes and spell.
Lots of stuff to give the campaign the Horde approval.
I would get this to add to it https://youtu.be/ytqJXFPuvLY
Also the GM Screen for Mork Borg is a must have
very nice I have been interested in this game
It is a fun game if your players are into grim dark and gothic settings
We all need some creepy stories in our lives. Keeps the monotone monotony out
For those times when 9th Level Spells are not enough and you really need to summon a ufo and get off planet
Or maybe you want to hit the planet with a comet? Fireball is not enough and everybody has it.
You need this book
https://mrlizard.com/reviews-and-walkthroughs/necromican-level-10-and-up/
I have seen such system and played with them in the past. They get to crunchy and slow down play at the mid & higher levels.
Prefer something like 90's Mage by White Wolf. Free form and unique magic but worry about the penalties of failure to keep magic for special circumstances.
see my post here https://lemm.ee/post/2175533
A quick and easy hack for D&D5e would be to reduce the damage and effects of cantrips for all magic classes.
Convert all spells to magic point system and offer spell casters the option of free form casting in addition to their vancian spells.
To load a Vancian Spell into a spell slot will cost 1mp to memorize for the day per spell slot. There will still be cost to actually cast it.
You should write a full blog on it
I wonder about incorporating AI to just generate the town and role play the NPC's
A good place to start with mastering the city hex crawl
https://bearded-devil.com/2019/04/09/how-i-run-a-citycrawl-campaign/
I never understood the warning against town adventures. Except that the characters are likely to get apprehended by the constaburlary. That can be fun too!
a good video on it https://www.youtube.com/live/iKcvykeSoWk
Best OSR System to Start With in 2023
Option 1 This is tough to beat price for a Whole Gaming System - The Drive Thru Vaults & Vows Bundle https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/440205/Vaults--Vows--Bonus-Printed--Digital-BUNDLE
with little work you can run Dungeon World Modules to this as well as Iron Sworn. Can always just run Valuts & Vows https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/15hi4z6/i_smashed_ironsworn_and_dungeon_world_togetherits/
get https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/360541/Quest-Fronts--Issue-1?src=hottest_filtered
Option 2 - *just a disclaimer - people seem to have a hard time understanding the magic system. I think it is simple and fun to use.
Black Sword Hack Ultimate Chaos Edition - yes the book has to come from Europe and will take it's sweet time getting to a US address. Everything is basicaly in this one book.
https://www.themerrymushmen.com/product/black-sword-hack-ultimate-chaos-edition/
Option #3 *players may be relunctant to play due to notorious rep of creator.
The Immortal Vanya or how to end up with Paladins in Space!
Started running a Mystara Campaign again and Vanya has come up. I dread her as a force to ruin campaigns.
Because Nobody Expects the Heldannic Inquisition!
One of the players is whishing to go to Vanya's Rest He has been promised to be Knighted if he brings the party there to be converted. That includes being given a castle and 100's of troops.
https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/thibault-vanyas-rest-region-8/
Brief snippet on Heldannic Kngihts https://d-d-3-0-tales-from-mystara.obsidianportal.com/wikis/heldannic-knights
The Free Heldannic Gaz http://pandius.com/The_Heldannic_Knights.pdf Warbirds and Paladins in Space
So I'm going to offer it to the party to revolt against this other PC and run off to Vestland. Where they will get involved in the Search for the Sorona Crown of Vestland. - module Crown of Ancient Glory but I will change out the Ethengar for the Heldannic Knights.
The Heldann Freeholds https://youtu.be/rRNcbImYRUg
Free Adventure - The Strange Curious Disapperance of Oberleutnant Schmitz Phase A - Part 1
Free Adventure - The Strange Curious Disappearance of Oberleutnant Schmitz
Suggested System Lamentation of the Flame Princess Suggested Character Level 1-5 for up to 7 players
Further suggested at least one player play an Elf of at least Level 3 with surgically altered ears and connections to either Miskatonic University, Madame Blavatsky, or Henry Steel Olcott's Theosophical Society.
Time - This adventure takes place 2 years after the end of WWI in the Late Spring or Early June of 1920.
Starting Location The Royal Isle of Wight Golf Club in a very private and most austere drawing room.
There are two gentlemen from Lloyds and a German from Mercedes-Benz here along with a deaf butler. Let up to 2 players speak sign language if they insist.
When your Paladin gets a reputation that draws those bearing strange gifts
The Three Arrows of the Black Douglas
There are so many variations of this.
As an Irish
Fey placed it there
IRL Pyramid Haunted Tomb Crawl and Ghost Stories to liven up your game
Don't worry it is daylight
Next adventure off to the Priory Cemetary https://youtu.be/h-ZL17jS2kA
Some kids have an adventure in 1973 on the Isle of Wight People still talk of it today https://youtu.be/MCSsUEJIcLE
More on the Clown / Scarecrow known as Sam of All Colors https://youtu.be/MBdfBTXWtFo
If you are running X2 Castle Amber or any fun house module you may want to watch this one on the Haunted House Appuldurcombe on the Isle of Wight. https://youtu.be/vRU_hF7f-3U
And do we classifier her as a Witch or a Necromancer? The Woman who lived with 92 Ghost https://youtu.be/aEdgp_aPg0Y
They are arming up and trying to cancel Yoon Suin again.
They have been shot down in the past. They keep trying to find fault.
A Lesson In Obnoxious Gaming - The World's Greatest Paladin - The Legend of Athene
A Lesson In Obnoxious Gaming - The World's Greatest Paladin - The Legend of Athene. The player you don't want or maybe you do :)
https://youtu.be/2t3-tpYEI0Y - watching this may make you terrified of corners.
They see Athene is in the game and they play 10x better.
Remember you don't have to send him gold in the mail. These are free tips.
So you want to create adventures live and on the fly do you? I will show you the tools that I use.
So you want to create adventures live and on the fly do you? I will show you the tools that I use.
Get Sandbox Generator https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/430675/Sandbox-Generator
and
and
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/243593/Dungeon-Deck
and https://mythicalink.gumroad.com/l/MythicalDeckOfDungeons-Printed
and https://dysonlogos.blog/2016/06/19/dungeon-business-cards/
You will need this https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/srd/index.php/Designing_a_Dungeon
and this https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248427/Designing-Fantasy-Scenarios
along with https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248735/Encounters-Fantasy-Scenarios?src=also_purchased
You now have infinite resources and endless possibilities at your convince.
Law 1 would cover say Gravity
example - my wizard will make the 4 orcs levitate high up in the air. 1pt to break Law 1 and then 4 more points for the 4 orcs. Then spend 1 more point for +1 on the roll. Level 1 Wizard so that is 3pts. 18 Int so that is +3 pts. - got the 6 pts for the spell. The GM reminds the player that every 2pts spent = 1 combat round. So your Wizard is chanelling the magic and chanting in deep meditation for 3 rounds. Someone needs to keep those Orcs off you for those 3 rounds. So the start of 3rd round, during the magic phase the player rolls - gets a 17 but has the +1 for 18. Strong Sucess the orcs levitate high up in the air. How long was not specified so just roll me a d6 for many rounds. Then gravity returns and they come falling down.
Not done yet. You broke a Law of the Universe - Roll a d20 under your Wisdom to see if you know how to appease the gods or get away with this. If you fail on a even dice roll a Zaire shows up on uneven roll a Paradox Effect in d12 days will occur with you as the nexus point. The Universe must be Repaired. So if you get the Paradox Effect. You should have a few days to make amends and cancel it out. I would suggest reaching out to a Zaire and begging for mercy.
Sure Example would be Gravity makes things fall down.
My Wizard breaks law 1 with meditation and chanting. Chanelling the magic around to levitate the four Orcs 1 pt to break the law and 4pts for the 4 targets. say 1 more for a +1 on the roll. Total 6 pts of Magic - 18int for +3 pts and 3pts at Level 1 for 6 pts. But remember it is 2 pts a combat round so this take 3 rounds to do.
So up to someone else to keep them busy till the spell goes off
This is why the Merchant Class and Sea Elves in BECMI Mystara are so OP
1: The reaction System
If you're using the old B/X reaction roll system, there is only a one-in-thirty-six chance that any given monster encounter goes straight to violence. Anything else gives you some room to manoeuvre: to talk, bluff, make a bargain, offer a bribe, whatever. If you want a fight you can have one, but you almost never actually have to fight. (And hell, even if they do attack, you can always just run away.) This is very different to later editions of D&D, which assumed that monsters would always attack on sight and usually fight to the death.
If you use the reaction system, then instead of the dungeon becoming a series of tactical combat challenges, it becomes a network of social challenges. What does each group want? What does it need? What can you offer them, and what can they offer you? With a bit of quick thinking and a lot of heart, you can talk your way through a dungeon much more effectively than you could ever fight your way through it.
The power of having the Darokin Diplomatic Corps Badge is not to be understimated. Yes I have authority to negotiate a trade treaty.
Of course you can steal from White Wolf and have 2 types of Magic Free Form True Magic and Vancian (make the spells weaker) Hedge Magic
You see this in Fantasy Literature as the Hedge Mage vs the True Mage.
Alterrnative to Vancian Magic for OSR Games
So on another OSR Resource I was asked about alternative magic systems for OSR Games
Long ago Conrad and Red of Spacegamer and Better Games wrote Conrad's Fantasy because some TSR Lawyers were questioning which games system the adventures they were selling where for.
So Conrad rushed up stairs to his hotel room and wrote HUGO which was later changed and expanded to become Conrad's Fantasy. He didn't have time to write a balanced and carefully crafted spell list. So he just made rules and laws for casting spells.
This lead me to some years later running a top secret game for TSR Staff. During this game a pc lassoed the moon with a magic lasso. Pulled it down to earth with Titan Strength. The rest of the party climbed aboard. I want to say this happened in 1993 it may have been 94.
Six Basic Laws of the Universe - Fantasy Game Setting
Law I - Force flows through fixed channels in only one direction.
Law II - Everything has a fixed identity whether it is fire, earth, water, or air.
When Witches Misuse Polymorph Spell
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh -we have a princess turned into a dragon
The tale of Jorinde and Joringel - poor Jorinde turned into a nightingale and put in a cage by an evil olde witch.
Then there is the Nordic Legend of Skuld's Mother who went from being a hag to a beautiful DarkElven Princess to seduce our hero Helgi.
It is said in battle that Skuld could bring her dead warriors back to life.
Poor Sir Gwain forced to marry the Loathly Lady. She had tricked King Arthur to giver her what she most wanted in return she would answer his riddle that none else could answer.
Back to polymorph - mostly misused as Polymorph Self 1000's of tales of witches changing shape to commit thefts. The most common is for the the Witch to turn into a hare. In this shape they would go into the barn and suck the life out of the farm animals.
For some that was not
Easy Game Starter Using New Zealand Hex Map
https://sadbasilisk.press/posts/2021-04-16-hex-map-of-earth-midgard.html
Get a starter Village / Town I suggest L1 The Secret of Bone Hill and then go here https://restenford.blogspot.com/
Then scatter about the follow adventures on the DM's Map work on rumors and patrons to hire the players
The Halls of Tizun Thane
Dark Tower from Judges Guild
The Abduction of Good King Despot
Isle of the Abbey Dungeon #34
B10 Nights Dark Terror
Ancient Blood - Dungeon #20 https://annarchive.com/files/Dungeon%20Magazine%20%23020.pdf
Citadel by the Sea - Dragon Magazine #78
HS4 The Forge of Ilmarinen by Jeremy Reaban
Ghost Tower of Inverness
Wandering Trees - Dragon Magazine #57
Chagmat - Dragon Magazine #63
The Shattered Circle
Can Seapoint Be Saved - Dragon Magazine #75
Tempus Gelidum – Gus L. https://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2012/12/tempus-gelidium-full-pdf.html
Forest of Doom Dragon Magazine #73
Red Tam's Bones
RC1 The Valley of Karaccia by Mithgarthr Entertainment
Another must have https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/427346/SPRAWLSCAPE-cyberpunk-city-kit-for-Mothership-1e Sprawlscape for Mothership 1e
So you want to Chrome Up Cyber Punk? You need Augmented Reality!
A must own product for running cyber and modern city games
You should really try these addendum rules out for
if you want excuses to buy stuff