I know there are hundreds of OSR releases over the last few years. Rules, adventures, supplements, monsters, classes, etc, etc, etc...
It is really hard to choose.
So I'm going to choose to. One classic and one recent.
The classic choice for me is Barrowmaze. It's an exciting tweak on the classic Megadungeon set up, and really begs to be used. I also want to learn more about the world of Barrowmaze.
Recent has to be the Terratic Tome. It really is a most amazing monster supplement. I want to know more about the world these monsters inhabit.
So, what are your favorite releases?
GURPS Session 202 - More Notes & Rulings
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Just a few rulings from last session.
*Can you do a swing/impaling attack to the eyes?* Probably yes according to
the rules, but no, we've long ruled that ...
5 hours ago
Probably still the Dungeon Alphabet. It's a book of tables, which I love, with great art and illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI've loved Fight On! because it's a tremendous community project and I'm a small part of the community. I liked Monsters of Myth, Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom, Stonehell, Anomalous Subsurface Environment, Many Gates of the Gann, and Realms of Crawling Chaos. Haven't read enough of Barrowmaze I and II to have a solid opinion yet. An Echo, Resounding seems really cool from what I'v eseen.
You are bang on when you say Barrowmaze, which is one of the best rpg products in recent years.
ReplyDeleteDungeon Crawl Classics RPG is my other favourite...that game, and anything to do with it.
Barrowmaze run under the DCC rules? Pure gold.
Tome of Adventure Design or Tome of Horrors are both up there. But I think I would have to pick Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe by Joe Browning. I believe it was one of the first things I bought in my return to old school gaming and a book I frequently return to.
ReplyDeleteTough question given all the great stuff out there...
ReplyDeleteAdventure-wise, I'd say Tomb of the Iron God is as close to perfection as I've seen.
Campaign setting-wise, I find that The Isle of the Unknown calls out to me in a way that no other setting I've read does.
Monster-wise, Exquisite Corpses just edges out the Random Esoteric Creature Generator.
Rules-wise, Swords & Wizardry: Complete probably comes out on top.
Backswords & Bucklers Tavern Trawling supplement.
ReplyDeleteLOTFP
ReplyDeleteDoh! How could I not have mentioned that every James Raggi product is also bloody excellent?!?!!?
DeleteLabyrinth Lord.
ReplyDeleteLabyrinth Lord or Basic Fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThe Terratic Tome is also really nice.
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ReplyDeletePars Fortuna. J.M. Stater's finest creative work on NyQuil. Seriously...this book is to S&W is what EPT was to OD&D.
Delete(Sorry, no edit option in bar and too tired to type without typos)
I of course like my two books, since I write what I like! Of the two, I like Isle of the Unknown more.
ReplyDeleteBut if I exclude my two books, my favorite OSR publication is James Raggi's Random Esoteric Creature Generator. It totally revolutionized the way I look at monsters, and it has restored a lot of the newness and wonder I felt when I first started playing D&D back in 1980.
Honorable mention: Matthew Finch's 30 spells in Eldritch Weirdness. Those are the best D&D magic-user spells I've ever seen (along with some of the new spells in the LotFP game).
Favorite system: Labyrinth Lord.
ReplyDeleteFavorite adventure: Anomalous Subsurface Environment
Probably my favorite system to come out of the OSR is ACKS. Or S&W:Whitebox.
ReplyDeleteI really like Many Gates of the Gann, but ASE is probably my favorite adventure so far (and I still haven't seen Barrowmaze).
Carcosa is the best setting, even though I doubt that I'd run it alone (as a "world beyond the magic gate", though, it will probably see use).
Vornheim is the best GM tool.
1)Tome of Adventure Design
ReplyDelete2)S&W:Whitebox
3)Everything that Basic Fantasy has put out.
It'll change from week to week. At the moment, DCC RPG and/or the Dungeon Alphabet top the list.
ReplyDeleteFavorite OSR game system: Mutant Future. Why? Because it's Gamma World with the OGL.
ReplyDeleteFavorite supplement: Gotta be ASE 1 and 2 for the sheer WTF of the setting.
Runner up: Terratic Tome. An amazing book. My jaw literally dropped when it arrived.
Tomb of the Iron God
ReplyDeletePod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom
Death Frost Doom (incl. The Tower)
Cairn of the Skeleton King
Operation Unfathomable (from Knockspell #5)
Swords & Wizardry ("I don't often play retro-clones, but when I do ...")
Forgot one:
ReplyDeletePPP's Dungeon Maps #1 and Dungeon Maps #2
Gah! I forgot yet another great one that I use all the time:
ReplyDeleteCDD#2 Old School Spells Reference
It'd be hard to choose between Kevin Crawford's stuff.
ReplyDelete