Tower of the Moon Free OSR Adventure

The Tower of the Moon is a monster-haunted ruin, its shadow falling over dark forest and desolate wilderness. Only the brave or foolish dare its secrets. A classic style adventure of Gothic Horror for three to five 3rd-6th level adventurers.

Those familiar with the Original Edition line of RPGs I've been developing over the years will recognize David Pulver's work. He is a well known long time writer in the RPG business, most of his work was for Steve Jackson games on their GURPS line. We've been talking for a while about publishing a line of books from his own personal writings and gaming.

This first one is a test to see if Pay What You Want would be the best pricing for an OSR adventure.

As you can imagine writing for RPGs is demanding work with minimal compensation, and I thought it a good idea to create some products that could provide some royalties for him later in life. He get's royalties from each purchase, your generosity is appreciated. If this does well we'll try to publish more of his books.

Check it out here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/289553/Tower-of-the-Moon

My First 10 RPG's

I've seen some recent discussions of people talking about their first RPG's, and it got me to thinking about it. These are the first 10 RPG's I ever owned.

1. Keep on the Borderlands
2. AD&D/D&D (Moldvay edition)
3. Gamma World
4. Star Frontiers
5. Marvel Super Heroes
6. Indiana Jones (TSR)
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
8. Top Secret SI
9. GURPS
10. Dragonquest

Keep on the Borderlands

While not a stand alone RPG it was the very first RPG product I ever owned and it had those invaluable combat matrix and equipment tables which allowed me and a friend to fumble through playing the game. This adventure is a classic, and considered the best adventure module ever written for beginning play.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition

The first AD&D books I got were: Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Deities & Demigods, and Fiend Folio for Christmas in 1982. I didn't get the original Monster Manual until a year later. So the FF was my monster manual, which might explain a lot of my weird tastes. Despite its warts AD&D 1st Edition has a particularly great flavor. Reading the DM's Guide is still entertaining and informative, almost a train of thought straight out of Gary Gygax's imagination and extensive knowledge of the fantasy and historical genres. I make it a point every few years to read the DMG from cover to cover. I mentioned the Moldvay Red Box in the list, and it's a bit fuzzy as to timing when I got the Red Box set, so I lumped them together.

Gamma World, 2nd Edition

I own just about every edition of Gamma World, actually, I think I have them all including the awful White Wolf version. I recall some kids on the bus in middle school having a copy of 1st edition, but I didn't get a chance to look at it then. I got Gamma World 2nd edition right when it came out, and in hindsight I consider it the best version. They took some of the best things about AD&D and applied it to the post-apocalyptic genre. And your characters started out super powerful, it's almost a super hero game. Each edition does have its own charm, though I'm hard pressed to find anything I like in the White Wolf edition. The last version has a card based mechanic I liked in theory, but in practice had some clunkiness. One thing Gamma World shows is that if TSR had any sense or awareness of the market they should have turned the AD&D system into a universal roleplaying game before GURPS took that title.

Star Frontiers

It says a lot that this game still has a small but loyal fan base. You can find resources still being created, blogs, and discussion groups. I recall liking Star Frontiers when it came out, but being disappointed that it didn't have spaceship combat so was glad when Knight Hawks came out. (A mistake I oddly repeated with my own Colonial Troopers RPG, and fixed with the starship supplement, though that is another story I'll tell at a later time)

In hindsight Star Frontiers was just too safe and mundane of a setting. It was very generic sci-fi. If it'd taken a more kitchen sink approach like D&D did, throwing in every cool idea from every science fiction novel from HG Wells to Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, Philip K. Dick, Heinlein, and so on then Star Frontiers could have been a really compelling setting. I do like the cover art by Elmore, I might like his Sci-Fi work better than his fantasy.

The Adventures of Indiana Jones Roleplaying Game (TSR)

The Indiana Jones RPG gets a lot of flack for being the worst RPG ever, and probably deserves that moniker if you only consider the boxed set. I've written before my fondness for this much maligned set. Once you add the Judges Survival Pack it's a pretty nifty game that captures the spirit of the genre. The production values and art were very high quality for its day, and the adventures are quite well written and playable. Someday I'll finish my in depth review of the system itself.

Marvel Super Heroes

I don't care what anyone says, Marvel Super Heroes is the best superhero roleplaying game. Yes, I've played Champions and appreciate that system, but measured for shear fun playing super powered characters the FASERIP system is the best. If you were familiar with the comics you could instantly stat out any character. The addition of the advanced set was remarkably well done, they could have gone crazy with complexity (yes Champions, I'm looking at you) but instead Jeff Grub maintained the integrity and simplicity of the system.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one of my favorites, and the first non-TSR RPG I owned. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about it, even though the Palladium system isn't the greatest. All the supplements for this game are just great. I was looking into getting the GM's screen, since it's the only item of this game I don't own but yikes are the prices high on it!

DragonQuest

DragonQuest was feared by TSR as a potential DnD killer. Looking back their fears were a little silly, Dragonquest is ok but was never a threat to DnD's throne. They bought the game, published like one book or something, then left it to quietly wilt away unsupported. I should do a review of this game, it has some things that were innovative in its day, but are dated now and represent a different direction from where the RPG industry went.

Top Secret SI

Not much to say about this. I got this on a whim at the game store, read the books, but never got anyone to play it. Sometime later I did play the James Bond RPG, and that game is so good it's hard to imagine playing spies with anything else.

GURPS

After high school I played way too much GURPS while in the Army. It was during the 2nd edition era of AD&D and I didn't care for what TSR did to the game. GURPS had a fully skill based system, crunchy combat, and no classes or levels. Everything I thought was wrong with D&D at the time, funny that now I think the opposite.

Looking back at 2nd edition DnD it's not all that bad, just some aesthetic decisions that were a turn off. It didn't go far enough in redesigning and improving the game. The cover art wasn't as cool as it could have been. 3rd edition is really what 2nd edition should have been, well except the covers I'm not much of a fan of the non-illustrated covers.

During the 90's I didn't play or buy that much RPG stuff. Then 3rd edition DnD came along, rekindled my interest in gaming and I went a little crazy buying and playing all the games I missed like Champions, Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Deadlands, and many others.

Bookmark Dungeon: Shrine of Odolric the Cruel

This is a mini adventure that fits onto a standard 2"x6" bookmark.

Shrine of Odolric the Cruel
Deep in the jungle a lost shrine to a forgotten goddess bodes ill will.
A bookmark adventure for 2-5 players of 4th-6th level.

1. The entrance is covered in detailed sculptures of snakes. Staring at them too long they seem to writhe.
2. Three columns each in the form of a naga. They have 6 jeweled eyes worth 50gp each.
3. The ceiling has partially collapsed. To the left the passage is completely blocked. There is a 50% chance some rubble will fall when exiting causing 1d6 points of damage.
4. A Bone Naga lurks here. She is a guardian who will attack any trespassers.
5. Chimes hang from the ceiling covering the entryway here, they are easily passed through, but will be noisy.
6. Four small worship chambers are here. Searching each of them can uncover up to 200 gp, but will alert the Yuan-Ti in room 7.
7. 2d4 Yuan-Ti are worshiping a demonic statue of Odolric the goddess of cruelty. She is in fact a Marilith demon. Reading the inscriptions on the statue will open a secret space with a bejeweled +3 dagger, and summon her within 1d6 rounds, she is not pleased.

Dungeoneer Review

A rather positive review of Dungeoneer by the writer/director of Bone Tomahawk (a really well done independent film staring Kurt Russel!).

"A clever dungeon crawler that focuses on quests, exploration, resource management, and battle.
Dungeoneer is smartly done and really enjoyable, though an undervalued boardgame...
Generally speaking this is a clever dungeon crawler that focuses on quests, adventuring/exploration, character modification, resource management, and battle. Leveling up occurs quickly, altering playing styles, and during the course of a game (approx. 40-60 minutes for 2 players), characters will explore rooms, escorts prisoners, take skill tests, alter the shape of the dungeon, challenge other players, fight monsters, deal with traps, boost skills, build a pack of monsters, and do many other things.
...
That so much memorable and creative adventure comes in two decks of cards rather than a 20 pound box of stuff is to be applauded."

Read the full review here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RLV7ZGCTJXQV2/

Clip Art for your Small Press Book

Do you need artwork for that really cool adventure you wrote? Need an old-school style cover layout for your OSR inspired roleplaying game? On my store are several images you can purchase as clip art to use. The prices are very reasonable, especially compared to the cost of commissioning art.

Each image includes a license and full resolution image. Some of them are even layered PSD files and have suggested color schemes and fonts for layouts you might want to use. Check it out on ThomasDenmark.com

If you need adjustments to the layout, or minor changes to the art you can purchase additional graphic design service to customize the image to your needs.

New images are being processed and continually updated. If you'd like a particular image you've seen on my art blog or portfolio you can ask if licensing rights are available. Thanks for checking it out!