#osr RPGs

[theinstagrahame]

Announcing: Restful Actions

(It's here. You can go get it now!)

Restful Actions is a collection of 10 minigames for downtime periods in any TTRPG. They're designed to help players resolve character conflicts, complete goals, heal or explore, and take much shorter shopping trips. (You can, in fact, download the shopping trip minigame as a demo!)

For GMs, the goal is to give you a break, so you can start preparing the next Big Event. The minigames invite players to fill in some details of the world, creating shops, landmarks, even creatures.

You can pick up your copy here:

I've talked about this thing in more detail here:

[buthigor]

What movie sir?

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you Played MORK BORG

By Pelle Nilsson and Johann Nohr

Heavy Metal inspired grimdark OSR dungeon crawls

MORK BORG takes place in a grim, lightless world where the apocalypse has already begun to rot away reality.

[peregrine-coast]

Milk Bar: my sci-fi RPG set in a post-Soviet Poland is now live on Kickstarter!

Hey folks!!

Milk Bar is a sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game set in an alternate-timeline, post-Soviet Poland. After the Soviets grew in power, their ultimate clash with Capital left your city in ruin. All you can do now is gather your fellow Communards, salvage whatever you can, and build your Milk Bar.

Based on RPGs like Cairn, Mausritter, and Mothership, and video games like Disco Elysium and Control, Milk Bar is a game about the post-collapse and rebuilding.

A 100-page book featuring:

Quick, simplified rules in the old school tradition

A toolkit for generating a retro-futuristic, alternate-timeline post-Soviet Communist Poland

Funnel Rules which have your group of upstart Communards find and take back a Milk Bar from the grasp of Capital. Start at level 0 and Cut Your Milk Teeth. 

Unique progression system tied to basebuilding. Want to stitch up those wounds? You better build an Infirmary and find a Doctor

Abandoned Soviet Superstructures containing reality-bending Future Tech deep within

A Bestiary melding Polish and Slavic mythology with classic science fiction

Solo Rules. Become the Biggest Communism Builder of the year '24!

Gorgeous production values: high-quality, uncoated paper and an exposed, yellow thread binding. Full of graphic design work from Eryk Sawicki (me!) and art from SADGHOBLIN

Pierogi

[technicalgrimoire]

We put SO MUCH work into the digital edition of Bones Deep. Glad to see that work paid off!

You can grab a copy for yourself here: https://www.technicalgrimoire.com/bones-deep

[vintagerpg]

Cairn (2020) is a neat little skeletal OSR system, born in part out of Ben Milton’s Knave and Chris McDowall’s Into the Odd. Yochai Gal’s stated intent is to make something that allows Into the Odd to be used for OSR settings like Dolmenwood. The result is a fast, light, classless game that feels, in a sort of surprisingly non-specific way, like a D&D experience, without any of the usual headaches.

A lot of stuff actually reminds me of other non-D&D-based systems. Reducing attributes to three (Strength, Dexterity and Willpower) feels pretty Dungeoneer to me. The combat reminds me a bit of HeroQuest, actually. You roll your weapon die, subtract the opponent’s armor value and subtract the balance from their HP. HP is Health Protection, not traditional hit points. They can be restored with a brief breather and a swig of water. If they are reduced to exactly zero, the character gets a scar. Damage exceeding HP is taken out of Strength — once that is gone, the character is dead. Magic is similarly unusual, facilitated by scrolls and spellbooks that any character can read. Casting spells (which are leveless and extremely open-ended) costs fatigue, which is logged in inventory, which I think is an odd, but exceedingly clever, mechanic.

And that’s about it. Light, flexible, keyed to OSR experience without feeling particularly OSR in its mechanics. This is a great introductory system. Its flexibility has sparked a surprising creator community which has produced hacks and Cairn-specific adventures. Good stuff.

[commander-ben]

Some rapscallions from my ttrpg Black Powder and Brimstone. A rules light, art heavy grim-dark game based on the Mörk Borg system.

Dark and thrilling adventures await in a world blighted by war and demons.

This illustration shows a mercenary deserter, a ruthless adventurer, and a lapsed practitioner. Only three of over twenty character archetypes you can shoes from, or just make up your own!

You can pre sign up for the campaign here!

[soulmuppet]

[emielboven]

Gemhaven, for The Electrum Archive issue 02

[lil-tachyon]

Armed guards oversee crowds in the streets outside of the Baronial Palace.

Interior art for Tide World of Mani, the long-awaited sequel to Desert Moon of Karth by Joel Hines. Crowdfunding starts soon so bookmark the kickstarter here!

[thelostbaystudio]

Cursed Tamagotchi RPG

🔥 Final cover art by Evangeline Gallagher for PARABYTE by @goblinmixtape for The Lost Bay RPG KS - cursed tamagotchi user manual Will you let them feed on Fresh Blood and Memories? Will you still love them once they grow into a Torso with a hundred hands or a Fleshy Millipede?

You guys, I'm super excited about this contribution by Sam. It's so wild, written in a super fun way. A great module to hook into your campaign, to play solo, or just to enjoy reading and grin :)

It's written like an in-game user manual, and will take you through all the steps to grow your own hellish tamagotchi

I'm so grateful it's in The Lost Bay pack, but above all, I can't wait to play it!

Would you let them feed on you?

Follow https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelostbay/the-lost-bay-suburban-dark-fantasy-rpg

Info https://thelostbaystudio.substack.com/p/announcing-the-lost-bay-rpg-a-dark

[the-ashen-gm]

I don’t think magic items should be named after their function, but their story.

In Dungeon Crawl Classics, there’s a chapter on magic items that briefly mentions that magic items are rare and powerful to the point that any one magic item is probably quite famous. That fame usually comes with a name.

So a particular flame tongue sword might be called “Hellfire” or “The Sword of Durageddon’s Bane”. A particular bag of holding might be “Kingslocks” or “The Blinding of the Gorgon”. These items get their names from the adventures they were involved in, which to me is a lot more interesting than a name that is purely functional.

Those functional names make the items feel less magical and more mechanical to me. If a bag of holding is recognisable as such, it must be fairly unremarkable to just have a generic name - implying that a great many people own one. It’s like owning a Ferrari racecar (impressive, but you’re hardly the only one) versus owning “The Carriage of the Ninth Angel” that is famed for being blessed by three angels with three heads in preparation for its death race against Satan himself.

I bought a zine recently (Through Ultan’s Door: Downtime in Zyon) that has a simple system for making magic items:

Commission a master artisan to make you a masterwork (a sword, armour, or book)

Use that item in a quest in an interesting way (such as slaying a particularly powerful foe)

That item, by becoming part of a spectacular story, then takes on magical properties once given a suitable name

Lots of players find it boring to find a generic +1 sword or what have you in dungeons, so I think this is a good solution to make it more interesting. And suitably mythic!

[buthigor]

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played MAUSRITTER ?

By Isaac Williams

An OSR game build on Into The Odd.

Play as little mice in a huge and dangerous world where a cat needs a warband to be defeated. Or fish. That can help.

(Personal note : Also a game that, any time I have played or mastered it, has included arson)

[level2janitor]

Iron Halberd is fully releasing today!

Iron halberd is now done playtesting and fully released! Major additions since the playtest include a bestiary, rules for building strongholds and waging warfare, cleric miracles based on how well your character impresses their god, tons of small and large improvements to wording & playability, a quick reference sheet for easy rules-checking at the table, robust GM and player guidance, and loads of shiny new treasure.

Semi-random but equally competent characters, defined by their equipment loadout. Character creation involves a lot of random die rolls mixed with player input, and all resulting characters can contribute effectively.

All attributes viable for all characters, regardless of playstyle. A heavy-armored weapon-user is just as viable focusing on Stamina and Power as they are focusing on Speed and Spirit; the same goes for book-toting spellcasters, well-prepared dungeoneers or anything in between.

Classless customization with support for different types of warriors, light-armored swashbucklers, heavily armored knights, rangers, thieves, scholars and alchemists; wizards, witches and bards with distinct spellcasting styles; ritualists and priests of any sort of god.

Streamlined design while keeping robust subsystems. The core moment-to-moment rules are quick and lightweight, but the system's loaded up with rules for forging equipment and artefacts, brewing potions, hiring and managing followers, foraging for food, tracking time and torchlight during dungeon crawls and downtime, and stealth and reaction rolls during random encounters.

Slow leveling with an emphasis on in-world progression. Gaining experience and levels is made a smaller portion of a character's power budget, instead focusing more on discovering treasure and artefacts, forming alliances, raising armies, and building strongholds as your primary form of character progression.

Simple, lethal and open-ended combat that goes by quickly and allows for creativity in critical moments. Uses abstract positioning instead of specific measurements, characters constantly doing exciting maneuvers, and slow healing which ensures all damage taken isn't just a today problem.

[technicalgrimoire]

Overpowered V3 is out now (and free!)

I'm so proud of the work we've done on Overpowered V3 (our first solo strategy game).

This new version is much more streamlined, far more satisfying, and compatible with even more adventures. Speedrun your favorite RPG modules FOR FREE!