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First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 22:05
Australian Street Fight Bronson Reed (with Paul Heyman) defeated Roman Reigns WWE Women’s Crown Jewel Championship Stephanie Vaquer (Raw’s Women’s World Champion) defeated Tiffany Stratton (SmackDown’s WWE Women’s Champion) Singles…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

MARVEL COMICS ANNOUNCES THE END OF THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 21:52
The final issues of Marvel’s new ULTIMATE UNIVERSE revealed, including ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #24, ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER #24, ULTIMATE X-MEN #24, ULTIMATES #24, and ULTIMATE WOLVERINE #16.   New York, NY—…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

MARVEL COMICS ANNOUNCES NEW RUN OF IRON MAN BY JOSHUA WILLIAMSON AND CARMEN CARNERO

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 21:48
Superstar creators Joshua Williamson and Carmen Carnero’s IRON MAN launches in January.   New York, NY— October 11, 2025 — Just revealed at Marvel’s Next Big Thing Panel, the most…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

THE RACE TO UNLOCK DOOM’S SECRETS BEGINS IN DUNGEONS OF DOOM, A ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM AFTERMATH SERIES

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 21:45
Spinning out of ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM, DUNGEONS OF DOOM, a three-issue saga by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Benjamin Percy, Carlos Magno, Robert Gill, Justin Mason and George Jeanty, launches in…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

INDY SPOTLIGHT: Fantastic Fanboys Adventures #2

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 19:14
Fantastic Fanboys Adventures #2 Four friends join forces to fight evil with the greatest weapon of all, their imaginations. Join these fantastic fanboys as they create comics and fight crime…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

RETURN TO THE HIGH REPUBLIC AS GEORGE MANN AND PARTHA PRATIM EXPLORE THE FAR REACHES OF THE GALAXY IN “PATHFINDERS”

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 18:10
  Six-issue comic series from author of fan-favorite “Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures–Echoes of Fear” MILWAUKIE, Ore., (October 11, 2025)— Dark Horse Comics and Lucasfilm continue to explore the High…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

Karen Gillan Returns to Jumanji in 2026

Blogtor Who - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 17:00
Doctor Who star Karen Gillan will be braving the dangers of Jumanji for a third time as Ruby Roundhouse

A third movie in the Jumanji reboot series is on the way and Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan is back in the jungle for more fun and games. The family adventure films feature a mysterious arcade game which physically transports the players to the dangerous world of Jumanji. There they take on the roles of avatars and must complete the game before they run out of lives. Because if they do… it’s game over for real.

Gillan originally played the game avatar of Ruby Roundhouse, skilled martial artist, in 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. She subsequently returned for its 2019 sequel Jumanji: The Next Level. The special nature of the avatar roles, however, means the cast aren’t always portraying the same players. While in the first two films Gillan was playing the shy and nerdy teenager Martha as she gained new confidence by being Ruby, we don’t yet know if Ruby will have a new player in next year’s film.

Other returning stars are Dwayne Johnson (archaeologist action man Dr. Smoulder Bravestone), Jack Black (Professor Shelly Oberon), and Kevin Hart (zoologist Mouse Finbar.) New faces joining them in the next game are Brittany O’Grady and Burn Gorman. Viewers will perhaps best know O’Grady for her role in The White Lotus. Gorman, meanwhile, needs to introduction to Doctor Who fans. He was series regular Owen Harper in the first two seasons of Torchwood.

We still don’t know anything about O’Grady and Gorman’s characters or anything about the plot. Indeed, for now, there’s just the placeholder title Jumanji 3 until the reveal of the official title. We do know however that the film will be in cinemas on the 11th of December, 2026. With it now all but impossible a Doctor Who Christmas Special could be ready in time for next year, at least it will be something for Who fans to look forward to.

 

Karen Gillan will also soon be joining filming of the Henry Cavill led remake of cult classic Highlander

Karen Gillan will be juggling her Jumanji return with her latest role in the upcoming Highlander remake. The new version is expected to begin filming in the next few months and stars Henry Cavill as the immortal warrior Conor MacLeod. Gillan plays Heather, MacLeod’s original love interest in 16th century Scotland. This remake of the 1980s cult classic, which starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, is thought be aiming for an early 2027 release date.

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Categories: Doctor Who Feeds

RICH REVIEWS: Mary Sue # 1

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 13:56
Title: Mary Sue # 1 Publisher: BOOM! Studios Created by: Meghan Fitzmartin & Lisa Sterle Script by: Meghan Fitzmartin Illustrated by: Lisa Sterle Colored by: Dearbhla Kelly, Heather Breckel Letters…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

RICH REVIEWS: Marian Heretic # 1

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 13:54
Title: Marian Heretic # 1 Publisher: BOOM! Studios Writer: Tini Howard Artist: Joe Jaro Colorist: Walter Baiamonte Cover Artist: Jose Jaro Variant Covers: Dylan Burnett, Jenny Frison, Suspiria Vilchez, Vinncenzo Riccardi, Nathan…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

JUST IMAGINE! September 1967: Telepathy Times Three

First Comics News - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 13:29
For whatever odd reason, they decided to advertise their status as crimefighting beginners right in the name of their team. “Writer Steve Skeates and artists Bill Montes and Ernie Bache’s…

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Categories: Comic Book Blogs

The Shrike

Ten Foot Pole - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 11:11
By Leo Hunt
Published by Joel Hines
OSE
Level 1?

The Shrike is a world of decay – rusted iron, crumbling stone, saltwater, blood, and fog – surrounded by a roiling ocean, a lifeless archipelago, pewter-hued clouds, seabirds, and pitiless stars. In this infernal Galapagos, players will encounter masked Devils, blood which gives life to things which should not have it, stones which give life to people who do not want it, terrible and stranded monsters, perilous locations, and wonderous treasures from across the planes.

This 169 page sandbox provides for about seventy locations in five zones in one of the better representations of a dante-like hell. It riffs on suffering without becoming grecian about it, presenting a picture of many desperate people trying to survive with hopes of either escape or despair. It does try to do everything to everyone, presenting several options for the direction of the goals the party might chase/factions they support/ends they want to obtain, and suffers somewhat for it. Lots of situations, with  a lot of people who want something.

Welcome to Hell! Literally! Well, a part of Hell, anyway. Well, a part of Hell that is no longer a part of Hell. It’s a G I A N T chunk of ragged metal surrounded by ocean and it has a god impaled on top of it, dying for all of eternity. You know, just like your morning commute feels. Anway, Hell being what it is, sometimes shit happens and chunks break away, detaching from Hell proper. And that’s happened here. You’ve got some sinners here, serving out their normal old sin of divine punishment, as well as some devils (five factions worth) overseeing things, a few other beings of power, and then some inanimate objects that have been turned in to people by the dying gods blood. Hmmm, something sounds familiar … Anyway, if the sinners die they get reborn the next day; death isn’t the end of things for them. Oh, and nearly everyone is starving. As the booklet says, play them like they are one meal away from starving to death. So, almost everyone is a cannibal. Sure hope you’re not a player character who ends up here; that create food and water spell is looking pretty good about right now! This part of hell is laid out like a pointcrawl, in about five zones with maybe fifteen areas per done, and maybe a dungeon per zone with about another rooms. 

One of the highlights of the adventure, and the reason I think it does such a good job modeling a kind of hell from Dante, is the focus on the normal every day old sinners. Sure, the place exists because of the dying god impaled on top, his blood animating things, but it’s the normal people that bring the grimness and false hope to life. 

First, everyone IS starving to death and almost everyone is a cannibal. You’ve got your friendly folk in caves playing their violins, who turn out to be cannibals. You’ve got your villages, who have a ritualized combat every night where the loser gets eaten. You’ve got your run of the mill cannibal gangs. There’s a line in this about the people living near the shore being able to eat fish, but that’ not what is going on here. There is no food for almost everyone. Everyone is a cannibal. But, it’s more the false hopes and resignments that I mean when I say it strikes well on the Hell front. In one encounter “Another hour’s walk and one comes across a great grove of silver trees, deep-rooted within the coastal stone, each branch holding countless sputtering candles. Careful observation reveals the candles are slowly going out, extinguished by harsh winds and drizzling rain.” You’ve got these two sinners, an old man and a young teen, huddled, living in a cave nearby, scared of the party. But they have to keep the candles lit. For if they can do that then they will be saved! “He believes Pin to be his daughter and the Candle Grove to be their penance. Each tree must remain lit, to demonstrate their faith in salvation.” She wants to journey to an island nearby, where she sees a green flame, believing it stays alight forever and they can use it to light all of the candles and win their salvation. If the party does not agree then she slips away in the night to do it. (Only to end up a thrall to it, but that’s another locale.) And, the party being the party, what if they manage to help out and light every candle?!?! “When they are not immediately freed from their suffering, Herot loses hope completely, becoming a Husk (p.148) within days. Pin will follow the PCs from this point on, whether they invite her to or not.” Well now, that’s depressing. Crushed expectations and disillusionment abound. People believe in things, they give themselves hope and are sustained by it. We must follow the devils orders explicitly to be saved. We must defy them at every turn to be saved from this place. At one point you see a MASSIVE chain coming out of the sky. Following it up leads to a floating ship  inhabited by people who think it will leave and take them away. A wizard is trapped here and constructs a bathosphere to escape through what he thinks is a hole to the abyss at the bottom of the ocean. These things sustain them through eternity. And invariably they want the parties help. And … some of them ARE true, Which do you think? And who is going to be devastated when you, the party, bring the crushing truth of reality in to what they have been clinging to for hope to sustain them through eternity? It is this, the hope and futility, that really shines here. Gonna harden your heart?  Gonna swallow your tears? Do you become like The Ghoul? Do you give them hope? Help them? Shit on them? How do you decide which ones MIGHT be on to something? Eternity is a long time to figure things out. 

Take, for example, the dead god. Forgotten name. No one knows his crime, blah blah blah. He’s got an avatar, created using his last strength. The devils would sorely like to capture and destroy it. It’s only a disembodied voice. And its working to free the god. Shall you help? Get the heads of the five devil houses to show up at the top of the spire in the Garden Incomparable and have them all five vote to free him. Which will free him. His avatar doesn’t tell you that doing so will destroy the Shrike and everyone in it, immortal or not. So, you know, I hope you pick the right people to cozy up with.

We come then to the sandbox nature of the adventure. The party ends up here somehow. The motivations for doing so are loose, but the mechanisms are the more interesting part. Beyond thepbvious “you died” and a journey by sea, we are presented with a false burial, in an iron coffin, replete with someone giving a false eulogy listing all of your sins and lapses. Buried in sand as the tide rolls in, you end up on a beach in an iron coffin as the tide rolls out, in the Shrike. There’s some local color for you! Or, perhaps, you would travel by traitor goat? “When a goat has performed this duty for seven years, it is slain by impalement, and its blood daubed upon a door made from iron, bone, silver, stone, and gold.” I think there are like two sentences to this, but which provide oh so much color. Great specificity and a good example of what TO color. 

The adventure keys and locations provide little in way of goals. For that, and perhaps in your reason for coming to the Shrike, we rely on another page in the front of the book. Escape and general exploration are covered, but then also working to free the nameless god or agents for the infernal court, working for unity, or against, to sow discord amongst them. It is one of these that is suggested as a goal for the arty, with the keys and locations proper remaining rather neutral in their orientation. There are some clunky rules for GOLD=XP, dumping them in to the mouths of idols to Mammon or offering them to one of the five devil leaders as tribute. Both seem clunky to me, as stand ins for “spending it in town”, since there are no towns, but, you can always ignore the “spend” part. Once in the mix most of the folks want something that the party could do. That bathosphere wizard needs a bunch of parts obtained for the construction. Him being level one makes it difficult for him (A great example of the consequences of a teleportation accident!) “The Abyss is pitch-black. We must have supernatural radiance to guide our path.” And then it’s up to you to find something, somewhere to help with that. There IS something provided, in the DM notes, but it’s also left openended as a problem to solve any way the party can. Continual Light isn’t mentioned, but hey, you’re the DM. And thus with a giant iron vessel to ride in (the kettles in one locations?) or something else the party comes up with. Looking at the Candle Tree situation, that’s open ended as well, as are most of the problems to be solved. They do, mostly, feel disconnected from each other. Vignettes, with the occasional “I’d really like a X”, or “I hope Y suffers.” In one of the devil courts you can interact with some random imps: “Have you all seen the light over in the Lantern Isle? Loads of stupid Sinners dance around it. We should go up there and steal that light from them.’ Two Imps of Salt will accompany you to the Lantern Isle (p.53) to steal the Wormwood Lantern.” Colorful, fun, and fits in with the imps. And a little quest-givery. This is the problem with an open-ended sandbox. You can do what you want and join any side but then also most things are written to be quite neutral and disconnected from each other with only tenuous ties. That’s not my favorite, I prefer something open ended and yet with a clear direction it is going, but I see how the framework can be appealing to some.

The maps for the five zones are all pointcrawl, with notes in each location about the various exits. “If you walk along the beach ,,,’ There is a small dungeon in each zone of, say, twelve rooms? The layout is not going be award winning. It’s better than a lair dungeon but not by much. 

There are parts of this that are quite quite good. “A tablet of stone containing the spell: The Storm Speaks Through Me (Lightning Bolt)” That’s the kind of thing I like, color. It evokes a vibe of thunderstorms and holding your arms outstretched and grey beards. Or was that Moses? Anyway, good local color. But, that doesn’t carry through the work. It lacks, I don’t know, cohesion? Falls apart at the devils? Some combination of the two?

The devils in this here part of hell are not exactly what you might call Go Getters. The locations of the devils courts and the devils proper tend to be rather static. There is some weirdness about, and some minor devilry, like those imps wanting to steal the sinners green party light, but the Grand Game is off. There is no VIBE of devilry here. The leaders of the devil courts are suitably weirdos, and most are willing to talk to you if you’re not immediately hostile. But it really just feels like a facade. There’s no life to them or their courts. And, no, this isn’t Marie NDiaye, this is an RPG adventure, it’s not on purpose. 

That is a pretty serious disconnect here. While the sinner, proper, including the forgotten god, feel suitable mythic and sisyphean without being too much in your face about it, the devils themselves, just about everything about them, lack that mythic nature. Or, pretty much any nature at all. They seem almost completely disconnected from the rest of the locales. You will recall I noted the lack of an overall thrust to this adventure. This is, I think, one of the ways a sandbox can fall down. Yes, we want an open environment, but, also, there should be a few things to hang your hat on. 80% of games will go like this … well, then lets write for that 80% while not explicitly excluding the other 20%. I might make an analogy to the Generic/Universal adventures. They are so afraid of doing anything specific that they come off as bland. Pick a path and go with it and then throw in a few extra words here and there on alternatives. Aimlessness is not a virtue. The locales have some wants, but they generally seem just that, local. La Grande Campagne does not exist here, or even a mini version of it. 

It does an absolutely excellent job of creating those little mini encounters, mini locales, mini situations. Everyone seems to have a want or need. (Maybe too many sometimes. Now what the fuck does THIS guy want?) But those connections between sites are weak and shallow. Local Troubles, as they say, if even that. More like uncles lightbulb is out. 

I seldom bitch about money. I’m willing to pay a lot for a good adventure, no matter the page count. I am not thrilled to be paying $30 for a PDF for encounters that are mostly isolated. Accepting its flaws, it’s a decent enough little thing for what it is. But that doesn’t correlate to $30 to me. It’s missing purpose. It’s missing a vitality, at least in the devils. 

This is $29 at DriveThru. The preview is 37 pages. You get to the overview of the devil courts, the various background information, hooks, endings, and so on. But, you don’t get to see any of the encounters or locales. That’s too bad. Those ARE the strength of the booklet. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/501615/the-shrike?1892600

Categories: Tabletop Gaming Blogs

Manifestation of the Yellow Stone Horror - A Mini Campaign Idea Using The Victorious Rpg & Wreched Eqoque Session Six

Swords & Stitchery - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 05:48
 We began rounding up the two cults that had been operating in Yellow Stone after the incident with the  Rake  last session on October 3.  And we turned over the members to the sherrif's department out of the local two towns. We didn't trust the department after we uncovered documents within the cabin belonging to the head of the cult. We were not sorry to see Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0
Categories: Tabletop Gaming Blogs

Humble Bundle - Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company & More

Tenkar's Tavern - Sat, 10/11/2025 - 03:30


Glen Cook's Black Company series is a classic series often discussed by RPG players. Well, it's now a bundle on Humble Bundle. Fill the holes in your connection.

Get 16 books from Glen Cook's Black Company series and more for $18 in ePub format.

From the Godfather of Grimdark, read the series that started it all!

Welcome the most legendary Book Bundle across the Sixteen Worlds—Glen Cook's bestselling Chronicles of The Black Company & More! The Black Company is Cook's acclaimed epic fantasy series following a group of hard-bitten mercenaries waging war on behalf of The Lady, who may be the very manifestation of evil itself.

"With the Black Company series Glen Cook single-handedly changed the face of fantasy."— Steven Erikson, New York Times bestselling author

Get Glen Cook's finest works, headlined by the complete Black Company collection—and gear up for the next installment arriving in late 2025! Pay what you want and help support the Call of Duty Endowment with your purchase!



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Categories: Tabletop Gaming Blogs

Doctor Who Magazine 622

Blogtor Who - Fri, 10/10/2025 - 14:00
Doctor Who Magazine 622 comes with a Production Notes mini-mag by Russell T Davies and an Audiobooks wall chart

The new issue of DWM features a 32 page mini-mag. The special supplement collects Russell T Davies’ Production Notes columns about David Tennant’s first season. Readers will also get a wall chart for marking off their audiobook collections.

Meanwhile, in the main magazine itself, Robert Shearman discusses novelising his Big Finish plays. There’s also a tribute to former script editor Christopher Hamilton Bidmead. Meanwhile, companions Carole Ann Ford, Katy Manning, and Sophie Aldred all discuss returning to their characters in new media. And much more!

 

Highlights this issue:
  • Dugga Doo – Composer Murray Gold, writer Juno Dawson and designer Dan May on the Interstellar Song Contest hit Dugga Doo and the alien race behind it…
  • Robert Shearman – the writer discusses his new novels – Jubilee and The Chimes of Midnight – based on audio dramas he wrote for the Sixth and Eighth Doctors in the early 2000s.
  • Christopher H Bidmead – A tribute to Season 18 script editor, and writer of Logopolis, Castrovalva and Frontios, who died in August. There are also previously unpublished extracts from an interview with Christopher H Bidmead conducted in 2017.
  • Sophie Aldred – the actor talks about returning to the early days of companion Ace in a new audio drama box set.
  • Katy Manning and Carole Ann Ford – the two former companions discuss short stories they have written for a new anthology that explores what happened to their characters, Jo and Susan, in the aftermath of TV episodes…
  • BBC Audobooks – A celebration of the imprint’s Doctor Who releases – including their recently completed run of talking books based on the Target novelisations.
  • The Black Archive Quiz – how sharp is your Doctor Who knowledge?
  • The Monster Hospital – the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi’s Neil Cole explains how he’s brought some of the series’ memorable creatures back to life!
  • The Fact of Fiction – A deep dive into the world of the Eleventh Doctor episode Let’s Kill Hitler.
  • Back to 1988! – What did the critics make of Seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks?
  • The Randomiser – Will computers be to blame for our downfall? Gary Gillatt investigates…
  • The DWM Comic Strip – A new adventure for the Fifteenth Doctor and Belinda…

 

Also this issue:
  • Gallifrey Guardian – news including details of Russell T Davies’ BAFTA win and the Speakies nomination for First Doctor audiobook Agent of the Daleks.
  • Reviews – featuring the latest audios, books, records and action figures.
  • Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.
  • Competitions – prizes include Season 13 on Blu-ray!

 

Doctor Who Magazine 622 (c) Panini Doctor Who Magazine 622

DWM Issue 622 is on sale Thursday the 9th of October from the online Panini store, and other retailers priced £10.99 (UK). Also available as a digital edition from Pocketmags for £9.99. You can also save with a subscription, as well as receiving exclusive, text-free covers.

 

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Categories: Doctor Who Feeds

Old Time Radio for Halloween

Sorcerer's Skull - Fri, 10/10/2025 - 11:00


Jason Sholtis and I have been listening to some old time radio horror stories as we get ready for Halloween and posting about them over on the Flashback Universe blog. So far, we've done:

"The Thing on the Fourble Board" from Quiet, Please.

"Three Skeleton Key" from Escape.

Trey Causey's Strange Stars - Stars Without Number & Cities Without Number - Mind Your Elder Things! Session Report II

Swords & Stitchery - Fri, 10/10/2025 - 03:59
 We picked up with our party of adventurers picking up another job from the Elder Things. The job was taking non terrestrial biological material to another Elder Thing colony world. This job picks right up from where in the last session ended on September 12th. The Elder Things communicated through  the Circeans  psychic witches are under contract to the Elder Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0
Categories: Tabletop Gaming Blogs

Deal of The Day - Belowdown for Shadowdark RPG

Tenkar's Tavern - Fri, 10/10/2025 - 01:20


ShadowDark is one of the hot properties today in the RPG world, OSR, and beyond. It's not surprising, then, that several third-party publishers take advantage of the ShadowDark third-party license.

Today's Deal of the Day is Belowdown for Shadowdark RPG. Usually $15.99 on PDF, Belowdown is on sale until tomorrow morning for $8.00.

It is said a hole runs straight to blackest Hell. The Belowdown, a 19-level catacomb-skein of old ruins, misbegotten terrors, dark dwarf reliquaries, shuddering magic. Sharpen your blade to find riches or death for Shadowdark RPG.

Dyson Logos released a series of 23 relatively compact maps with a theme: all these maps are connected via a central shaft. Logos calls this “Iseldec’s Drop” and made these maps available to all creators. We’ve used the first 19 maps, placing an entrance to the Utter Below at the bottom. I imagine this as the home of the Shadowdark, as much as any world-wide malaise can have one.

We’ve decided to put our spin on this concept, calling it Belowdown. You’ll find forgotten civilizations, eldritch runes, bestial mutants serving brassine masters, serpent-people waiting for the End Times, necro-wizards preparing to create an army of slimy undead, and far more within.

A massive megadungeon of 19 interconnected levels, each with B&W maps, described in terse, evocative prose with crucial features outlined.

Factions such as brass automatons, the devil-lich, snake-people awaiting the end of the world, ooze worshipping toad-men, drow exterminators, mutant servitors, daemons seeking penultimate Chaos, and more.

Written with a focus on getting into play, designed so you can place the Belowdown in almost any campaign with little fuss. Menagerie Press makes Shadowdark-friendly modular adventures that are plug-and-play with your existing worlds.


 


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Categories: Tabletop Gaming Blogs

What is the point of the OSR?

Bat in the Attic - Thu, 10/09/2025 - 22:25


 Over on Reddit, Kaliburnus asks What the point of the OSR is? He concludes his post with some questions.

So, honest question, what is the point of OSR? Why do they reject modern systems? (I’m talking specifically about the total OSR people and not the ones who play both sides of the coin). What is so special about this movement and their games that is attracting so many people? Any specific system you could recommend for me to try?

My answers

 What is the point of the OSR?To play, promote, or publish older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, along with anything else that appeals to those who enjoy those systems. This often includes older editions of other systems, like Traveller, or newer RPGs that build on similar themes to classic D&D.
What distinguishes the OSR is the "hack" developed by Stuart Marshall, Matt Finch, and Chris Gonnerman. They discovered that if you take the d20 SRD and omit the newer mechanics (like feats), the result is only a hop and a skip away from any classic edition of D&D. This insight removed most of the IP barriers that had previously prevented fans of older editions from fully supporting the editions they loved.
Even better, this "hack" was based on open content under an open license, meaning anyone with time and interest could freely build on it, including developing their own take on the various classic editions.
This coincided with advances in digital technology that lowered the barriers to creating, publishing, and sharing products. Better DTP software, PDFs, online storefronts, and print-on-demand combined to let individuals publish ambitious projects within the time and budget of a hobby.
So the "point" is simple: after 2006, people began doing what they had always wanted to do in the first place.
Because the OSR was an early pioneer in leveraging digital tools, and because its foundation rested on open content and open licenses, it naturally diversified into what we see today. Each new creator arrived with their own vision. Many now only loosely adapt D&D mechanics while keeping its themes, or use D&D-style systems for entirely different genres and settings.Why do they reject modern systems?Games are not technology. While their presentation can improve over time, a game plays as well today as it did decades ago.
The OSR is not about rejecting modern systems. It is about enjoying different RPGs than those produced by the market leaders. Moreover, because of how the OSR began (see above), its community is fueled by the creative and logistical freedom to make and share anything they want, in whatever form they choose, without being beholden to anyone else.
The OSR is not a rejection. It is a celebration.What is so special about this movement and its games that attracts so many people?No dominant brands or market leaders are dictating what appears. Anyone, including you, can look at the available content and decide, "They are doing it wrong; I can do it better." Then you can actually go out, use the available open content, and do it within the time and budget you have for a hobby.
As for why classic D&D and systems modeled after it remain appealing, it is because they work. They have proven themselves capable of running fun, emergent, and engaging campaigns for decades.
Crucially, the OSR, from 20 years ago to today, does not just say these games are fun; it shows it through actual play reports, adventures, and supplements.
Many industries see their founders get close to the right idea but fall short, only for a later entrant to perfect it. For example, automobiles and the Model T. That is not the case with D&D. OD&D plus the Greyhawk supplement created what we now call "classic D&D," and it has endured for decades.
The only reason it ever became debatable was IP control, when the owner of D&D stopped publishing classic versions. But thanks to the "hack" that sparked the OSR, hobbyists today can play classic D&D and, if they enjoy it, support it however they wish, even by publishing for it.
That does not make classic D&D the "best" RPG, no more than chess or checkers are the best board games. But like those classics, it is still played, loved, and expanded upon by people around the world.What specific systems would you recommend trying?First, I recommend starting with the excellent Swords & Wizardry Quick Start. It is free, teaches the rules, and includes an adventure that gives you a clear sense of what an OSR campaign feels like.
Swords & Wizardry Quick Start
All of these I have used or played at one time or another
Swords & WizardryOld School EssentialsOSRIC (Note: a new edition is in the works by Matt Finch)Mork BorgShadowdark
Some other worth mentioningAdventures Dark & DeepAdventure Conqueror KingWorlds without NumberOther OSR Core Rulebooks
I have my own project available.Majestic Fantasy RPG, Basic Rules
Also, my Blackmarsh setting is free and provides an excellent example of what an OSR supplement looks like:Blackmarsh


    

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