OSR News Network November
- Paul Wolfe
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
We're broadcasting on pirate satellite. This is the OSRNN...Osernin..or something. We'll work on that. Anyway, it's a monthly rundown of OSR news games, gaming, creators, and inspiration. The Mystic Bull sees all. The Mystic Bull gets distracted by shiny things like an ADD toddler at Six Flags.
Anyway, here's what caught our eyes this month.
OSR Blogging and Creators
Servants of the Demon Lord. The Other Side has a great Monstrous Mondays features. This week they’ve statted out the Demogorgon (not the demon lord...the creature) in anticipation of the last season of Stranger Things. I’m going to use this in something. Maybe my Underworld campaign.
Tarot Royale. Wayspell has a great article from earlier this year on using divination (tarot cards) to create a character. This looks like its for their homebrew game, but easily adaptable. Back in the day, my cousin and I got tarot cards at about the same time. We immediately made an in-game game called Tarot Royale. I should dig for those rules. I remember them being cool, but we were like 15 at the time.
Whaling the Astral. And Wayspell’s latest article is an encounter table for the Astral Sea. Friggin’ cool. I have to check out this game.
Operation Thunderbolt. Where does the OSR begin and end? I read it as any of the old games we used to play, updated, and also PLAYED. Not just purchased and thrown on a shelf. Twilight 2000 was a game I loved back in the day, though we only tried to play it a couple of times. It felt unplayable, but such a great 80s military resource (which was incidentally when I was in the military). Dyson Logos, mapper and artist extraordinary, has a series of articles about their ongoing Twilight 2000 game. The 4e version from Free League is just a great game and very playable. Go check out his session write ups and then go get the game!
Puzzling. Itch.io has a current Jam: Puzzle Dungeons. It runs through December 15th. So dust off your riddles, tricky dungeon rooms, and frustrating puzzles.
CampaignWiki Does It All. I keep forgetting about this resource, so I’m putting it here so I’ll remember. Dungeon map generator. Hex generator. Name generator. TRAVELLER SECTOR GENERATOR!! WTF.
What's New to Play in the OSR?
Automatic Castle. Rise Up Comus is doing a pre-order campaign for their 100+ room dungeon called Castle Automatic for His Majesty the Worm. Instead of Kickstarting, they’re using Exalted Funeral’s pre-order campaign function. Very cool. I’ll have to look at this. I have a couple of projects I don’t want to push through traditional crowdfunding. And this book looks beautiful. Check out the map!
Space Vixens. I don’t care what system it is (I have no idea what the FAST system is), if you name your product Space Vixens, I’m definitely going to check it out. This bundle looks very cool, and I’m sure I could convert it to Frontierspace or Traveller with no issue
Factions Fantastic. Philip Reed has some great new faction cards. Very evocative without being prescriptive. Perfect for the city crawl in my Aldaven OSRIC game.
Gold Fever! Two of my favorite people, Daniel Bishop and Dave Baity, have a new Weird Frontiers adventure: Gold Fever Comes to Owl Creek! I don’t run much western RPG stuff, but I find inspiration everywhere. And you can’t do wrong by getting inspiration from Daniel and Dave!
Horror Sale. There’s still a horror sale over at Exalted Funeral. I picked up Halls of the Blood King. Always looking for another drop-in adventure for my ongoing OSRIC campaign and OSE is an easy conversion.
Appendix N'ing for an OSR November
I get inspiration everywhere. Hell, even watching Wicked: For Good gave me some ideas for Angmi, the Woods Witch in the current Witch-Lords of Skull Mountain book. Here’s some inspirational reading/watching/living.
Ithica, Oh Ithica. I spent a few days up in Ithica, NY with some friends. We attended FLAGCon and hiked and hiked (until I rolled my ankle), then ate a lot of food (if you’re ever in Rochester, check out Zemeta’s Ethiopian Restaurant. Great food and friendly owners. Anyway, hiking the gorges was extremely inspiring, because you know, behind every waterfall is a dungeon.
Red Sonja 5ever. I’ve been reading Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone alongside Red Sonja: The Ring of Ikribu by David C. Smith and Richard L Tierney. I must say I’m enjoying the Gail Simone book much better. I think she has a clearer vision of who Red Sonja is, though I have to admit, both books are kind of slow.
Deathstalker! That’s right. Your favorite campy barbarian movie is back in Deathstalker (2025). Find a way to watch it without enriching a billionaire. We’ve got Patton Oswalt as a magical goblin dude. Deathstalker! Of course. And a mumble-mouthed thief (I’m not sure where they found this actress, but I can barely understand her). The movie is pure camp and amateurish in the extreme, but there’s so much to love. Check it out. So many cool things to steal for your campaign. The big stone golem dude with the rotating face is definitely making an appearance in one of my sessions.
