Shadowdark (along with back up) has arrived like a tenebrous fissure suddenly opening beneath our feet. Time to fear the dark again. The original tales of Conan are available for inspiration for any sword and sorcery campaign. Cairn gets two connected adventures. Mörk Borg and the OSR get plenty of adventures. Finally, Shadowrun Sixth Edition gets additional support as well.
Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.
Shadowdark | Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 1: Diablerie! | Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 2: Red Sands | Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 3: Midnight Sun by The Arcane Library
Conan Weird Tales Collection by Troll Lord Games
Hideous Daylight | Fabien's Atelier by Brad Kerr
Waeldaeg by Stacking Dice
Knives Out by Exalted Funeral
Wild Life | Critter Deck by Catalyst Game Labs
Stockholm Kartell Pamphlets by Exalted Funeral US
Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.
- SYSTEM: like various versions of D&D combined and distilled
- PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rules/zines
- RETAIL PRICE: $59/$14.99 each
- OTHER RPG NEWS COVERAGE: Shadowdark: An Interview with Kelsey Dionne Shadowdark review
- DESCRIPTION: No darkvision, no skills, no feats, no AoO. Plenty of GM support. Shadowdark has all the support a GM needs for dungeon adventures fraught with peril and challenge. The zines include hand drawn maps. Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 1 includes a 1st-level dungeon crawl heavy on exploration and factions, a gloom drenched hex crawl in a misty demon-haunted forest and swamp, three new classes (witch, warlock, and knight of St. Ydris), 36 new spells, 20 character backgrounds, and 14 new monsters like the Willowman. Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 2 has a fourth to sixth level adventure that pits the characters against two warring efreet in a grim iron stronghold, a shimmering desert hex crawl rife with desert sorcerers and lost treasures, three new classes (desert rider, pit fighter, and ras-godai), 14 new monsters including a mad dragon, and rules for pit fighting, riding mounts, poisons, and enduring wounds. In Cursed Scroll Zine, Vol. 3 are a 0-level gauntlet adventure, mountainous islands ruled by drakes and the enigmatic Old Gods, two new classes: seer and sea wolf, 12 new monsters like the mythical Valkyrie, and rules for new spells, boats, swearing oaths, arctic sea encounters, and a raid into the unsuspecting Wortwick Monastery.
Conan Weird Tales Collection by Troll Lord Games
- SYSTEM: any Conan/sword and sorcery RPGs
- PRODUCT TYPE: three hardcover novels collection
- RETAIL PRICE: $65
- DESCRIPTION: Covers the complete Weird Tales collection of Conan stories by Robert E Howard. The Tower of the Elephant is the classic Conan tale of the barbarian infiltrating a perilous tower to steal a fabled gem from an evil sorcerer named Yara. Things don’t go quite as Conan planned. In The Queen of the Black Coast Conan meets arguably the greatest love of his life in the she-pirate, Bêlit. Their torrid and ill-fated romance was one of Conan’s most poignant tales. The Hour of the Dragon was Howard’s only Conan novel and was created by revisiting several scenarios from earlier tales. King Conan is brought low by dark magics of a reincarnated sorcerer from ancient Acheron, and enemy nations unite to overthrow his hard-won kingdom of Aquilonia. This is the hero’s journey in its most elemental form, and the savage Cimmerian must use all of his cunning to win the day.
Hideous Daylight | Fabien's Atelier by Brad Kerr
- SYSTEM: Cairn
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventures
- RETAIL PRICE: $15/$16
- DESCRIPTION: In Hideous Daylight the PCs investigate why the sun has stopped setting over the king's favorite garden. They have to navigate a 20-point hex crawl to end the strange curse affecting the land. Includes dangerous new monsters, weird magic items, an unpredictable random encounters table, and two gazebos. Fabien's Atelier is a follow-up to the adventure module Hideous Daylight but may be played without any previous experience. The Wizard Fabien is dead, and the magic in his flying island sputters and fades. The PCs enter the wizard's floating workshop to unravel its mysteries before catastrophic failure sends the island crashing down to earth. I ran both of these using Old-School Essentials and greatly enjoyed both adventures.
Waeldaeg by Stacking Dice
- SYSTEM: OSR
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover zine
- RETAIL PRICE: $13
- DESCRIPTION: Beyond an icy strait left behind by a melted glacier lies a vast and mist-locked sea of strange, wondrous, and horrifying islands. Among these islands, PCs from the Early Middle Ages will find evidence of the presence and reign of the First, an ancient civilization whose artificially-created progeny dot the islands and have built their own civilizations and nations. The First also created great and terrible war-things to guard the ancient places. Uses system neutral stat blocks and procedures.
Knives Out by Exalted Funeral
- SYSTEM: Mörk Borg
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplement
- RETAIL PRICE: $15
- DESCRIPTION: Features lots of knives, a side of rapiers and fencing rules, a seedy tavern (called the Rouge Rogue) that's home to an underground enclave of rogues, a handful of jobs that should be done with discretion, a detective class that doesn't believe in luck or fate, and a huge heist to steal the crown of a time-lost mad king. And more.
Wild Life | Critter Deck by Catalyst Game Labs
- SYSTEM: Shadowrun Sixth Edition
- PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement/deck of cards
- RETAIL PRICE: $49.99/$14.99
- DESCRIPTION: Wild Life is the core critters that can be found in a range of environments rulebook for Shadowrun, Sixth World. Whether they’re used as corporate security or something the PCs run into in the wild, they can be a tremendous threat. They can also, however, be a source of reagents or wealth if the PCs know how to steer clear of tooth and claw. The Critter Deck contains a herd of critters waiting to make a shadowrunner’s life more difficult and altogether more interesting. Includes dozens of critters from all sorts of environments.
Stockholm Kartell Pamphlets by Exalted Funeral US
- SYSTEM: OSR
- PRODUCT TYPE: special bundle
- RETAIL PRICE: $22
- DESCRIPTION: Not a new release but instead a bundle of previously released adventures at a special price. Crypt of the Crocodiles is a network of tombs of forgotten desert royalty that emerges from the sand for just one week every 13 years. It is deadly dangerous but rumor has it that those who survive return with enough riches to retire. It has been sighted and the PCs’ chance is here. The Unliving Court of Graemr is revealed after a collapse reveals a hidden system of tunnels. Few who went in come back, but those few brought back gold and stories of giants still living down there in the deep. The Prison-Crypt of Mu-Ye is found in a marsh through a large gate set in a cliff. Baron Mu-Ye was an ancient warrior, tyrant, and immortal vampire buried with all of his stolen treasures. The PCs have an opportunity to plunder the riches of an ancient evil. In Hell Lost the portal behind the PCs is inactive and cracked. The sky is burning and filled with smoke and ash. The ground is cracked and covered in rocks as sharp as knives. The surrounding walls are carved with dead faces who died in pain. It’s eerily quiet. The PCs are trapped in Hell. Deep into the dark depths, an ancient death cult built The Ommadonian Ossuary from the bones of men and monsters. The cult is gone, but some of the treasures they gathered remain. PCs have the chance to go in, grab some treasure, and get out before getting killed. The Cursed Abbey that belonged to an order of demon-slaying knights has been cut off in the mountains by an unnatural storm for over thirty years. Two months ago, the storm lifted. A few days ago, every single soul in the nearby village of Griert went missing. Local authorities call on the PCs to investigate.
