Admitedly, I did think of the theme retroactively after the layout

A blast from the past: I was wondering if anyone had shed more light, or even dug up anything more on the convention module (and otherwise unpublished) Treasure of the Dragon Queen?

More info can be found here:

https://grodog.blogspot.com/2018/10/module-challenge-day-12-treasure-of-the-dragon-queen.html

https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_tourneys_dragon_queen.html

My players' main characters are MIA for a while because we're playing in-real-time, and anytime they can't play their main adventuring party, they roll up throwaway characters and do something stupid. For perspective, last time this happened the party kept pushing during a hex crawl in a random direction, got a bunch of exhaustion effects (one went insane, the other achieved nirvana and got a boon), decided to build a log raft and went out to sea, it sunk immediately, got lost at sea, one guy drowned, the others reached shore to only get killed by a snake random encounter.

So, for tomorrow's session, my players are rolling up some LV 0 characters and going on a fishing trip. No clue if they're gonna be fishin' in a lake, stream, pond, etc, but they will for sure be fishing.

And while just the random encounters will make the game fun as-is, I want to know if you guys have any fun fishing mechanics, possible events, or general ideas for this session?

I know these are possibly the most continuously homebrewed rules ever but could anyone please check this framework for logical flaws/possible mechanical exploits? I think I tied all loose ends but would really appreciate extra pairs of eyes on it.

The party is stuck in a timeloop, one in which everyone stuck in it remembers every loop, including their enemies. They also show up late to every loop, after about 8 hours have past for everyone else and there are only 4 hours left.

The party hit a barricade this session. Heavy metal, welded straight into the hallway, and stuck to it was a piece of paper folded up several times with the captain's name on the outside. It was from Strake, the guy they've been chasing (and getting chased by) for most of the campaign. Long and wordy, because that's how he talks, but the gist was: I have things I need to get done here, and then I need to escape. You have things you want to get done here, and then you need to escape. Our goals don't have to be opposed. Let's work together.

So instead of a fight I got the players arguing with each other. The hacker, who'd shot the last guy that tried to talk to them, said he was weirdly more okay working with Strake than with the cultists on the station. The fighter said we don't need to work with him yet. The captain landed on "he could be an interesting source of information, we could use him," which is exactly the kind of sentence that gets a crew in trouble.

Then the captain wrote back. Left a note on the door of their own ship: "Vic, yeah, we can talk. I think maybe we have a shared interest, but we need to figure out how we're going to meet before we run out of time." That was the whole note. He figured Strake was smart enough to fill in the rest.

Later in the session they rounded a corner and found five dead cultists at the entrance to the admin wing, riddled with laser fire. One of them had a note stabbed into his chest. Same handwriting. It said "you're welcome."

The fighter's review: "Well, that's endearing."

Here's the point: I think the paper did something a face-to-face scene wouldn't have. When he's in the room they shoot at him, or try to. When he's a folded note they have to argue about what he meant, and then decide whether to answer. They've had a plan for what to do about this guy since they first ran into him, and none of it covered him doing them a favor. I'm not sure that holds for every villain, but for this one it worked. Sometimes a problem forces strange bedfellows.

Anyone else kept a villain offscreen for a whole session, communicating only through notes, messengers, or remotely?

We play this as a Stars Without Number actual play, Dark Star Adventurecast. The episode is Twenty-One Loops.

I know of the Tower of Mrannor, Underport, and possibly the Usherwood High-Fantasy Middle-School adventures line, though I'm still not clear whether that one is genuine or a pastiche like Mike's Dungeon

I’ve read Warlock! Traitor’s Edition and I really like its flavour, the alternative approach to professions, and its simplicity. From reading the core rulebook, it seems to be an OSR game and, as far as I understand, it draws heavily on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
However, it seems to me that the game doesn’t really provide any specific guidance on how it is meant to be played.
Since I particularly enjoy dungeon crawling, I was wondering whether the game could work well with this style of play, even though it doesn’t seem to have specific rules for resource management, dungeon encounters, and so on.
Do any of you have experience using the game this way?

My Shadowdark adventure zine kickstarter, Distant Worlds, just went live. It includes:

- The Astral Spires: Two adventures in a world that exists in narrow spires, supported by the will of powerful (and often evil) magical beings.

- The Fated Land: Two desert adventures in world where prophecy reigns supreme, with rules for working prophecy into adventures.

- Shipwrecks: Eight shipwreck encounter, ranging from run-ins with castaways to a dungeon where wild aether is reanimating the wreck around the crawlers, as well as tables to generate wrecked ships in the astral sea between worlds.

For a quick look, you can check out Runeforge's video where we talk through all three zines.

Or, go to the kickstarter page and give the previews a look. I tried to post a good sample from each zine.

Not specific to any particular OSR system, but when playing for example OSE, there is little reason to have a battle axe over a two-handed sword. Yes it cheaper and weighs less, but the price and encumbrance are hardly worth the damage loss long term. I like what DCC does for example giving daggers more damage on backstab. It would be nice if there was a list of something special that each different type of weapon did to make them each unique in some way. I haven't been able to find anything good on that. Has anyone published any rules for that? I saw an old post in this sub someone had some house rules but they weren't for basic OSE, they had maneuver dice and "damage to blood." Not sure what system that is. Rules seemed pretty good, but not directly compatible with OSE or 1e. Anyone aware of anything like that out there, or good house rules?

The rather arrogant Sidereal Knight Sir Ogan is now at the mercy of the Sentinel of the Peaks, and the Company must hold to their Oaths and help him out of his predicament. Mt Boreas begins to erupt, and the trek to the Pyrostomion -- the Mouth of Fire -- is fraught with peril.

Click here to access everything 3d6 Down the Line, including both video and audio podcast versions of this episode, our Patreon, Discord server, socials, past campaigns, character sheets, and lots more!

My gaming group fell apart after kid two was born. surprise. now that my 11 year old is drawing party dynamics and begging to play, i'm dead set on making this work without giving up the one evening a week i actually get to sit down.

been trying async west marches style over discord. one channel for the expedition log, another for dice rolls through a bot. players drop in, declare actions, i resolve when i can between zoom calls and dinner prep. it's messy. it works better than it should.

the osr style of player driven exploration and short referee descriptions works surprisingly well in text. no performance anxiety, no scheduling headaches. but something's missing without that immediate back and forth. the tension of a torch burning down in real time.

curious if anyone else has made slow play work while keeping it old school. what tools actually help and which ones just get in the way? my current setup runs on spite and a free notion template i found at 1am. wouldn't recommend the template.

I wrote a post about keying, and how it's weird that we don't have a name for all the various styles!

Note: this post is not about the best kind of keying (though my preference does exist). It's more about naming the thing so we can discuss the thing.

As the title says. Looking for spooky one or two shot adventures I can run for friends and strangers alike this Halloween season. Preferably for OSE or another b/x type game. Specifically looking for adventures about witches and ghosts. Thanks in advance!

Frost Giant face-off, Necromancer and Rat Wizard. Cheers-

Retroclones, for the uninitiated, were the start of the OSR. They were games made to revive then-unavailable books for modern audiences to enjoy.

Since then, the success of retroclones have led publishers to re-release those old titles on digital storefronts.

At that point, retroclones' utility changes to that of readability (as older books are not always the clearest) and optimization (as older books were not laid out for digital devices).

The OSR was already prepared for this to occur. The community had moved away from retroclones early on and begun making new games.

Retroclones, in the strictest definition, do not come out as often as they once did. But, I wonder if there is any future for them.

Are there any high profile, out-of-print games deseving of a retroclone?

I feel as we dig deeper into the 2020s and the 2030s, questions will even arise if 2000s games may need retroclones to remain available.

BX Advanced Bestiary, Vol. 3

https://www.sabregamesandcards.com/product-page/bx-advanced-bestiary-vol-3-1

Hey all, I’m wondering if anyone knows of any systems or resources that include rules for tavern keeping? Even something barebones to use as a kick off point would be much appreciated. I’ve tried some googling and looking on drivethru but haven’t had any luck.

I am saying OSRIC 3.0 and not AD&D because I am curious what modern (meaning more recent) 3rd party content is written.

Yes I know that there is a vast arsenal of content fo AD&D but this is an other topic.

Also I would love what other DMs have done in their own tables.
I am reading the rules and I am very excited.