Methods & Madness: sale

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

Classic D&D

This are some of my favorites. Explanation here.

* Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures (0e)

* Monstrous Manual (2e) - the current price is RIDICULOUSLY LOW for such a a great book.

* Dark Sun boxed set.

Goodman Games

In addition to the amazing Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (DCC RPG), I really like The Dungeon Alphabet, The Monster Alphabet and The Cthulhu Alphabet. They are near system-less and full of awesome stuff to inspire your games. I still haven't read How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck but it is also on sale.

They also publish awesome adventures; Doom of the Savage King is highly recommended! Same for Jewels of the Carnifex, which I reviewed here.

Necrotic Gnome

Several Old School Essentials titles are also on sale in addition to Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome. I really like Old-School Essentials. It is basically a concise, well-organized version of my favorite D&D (B/X). The SRD is great. the version that interests me the most is the advanced version - it is NOT an AD&D clone, but B/X with many new options taken from AD&D, dragon magazine, etc. For players and DMs.

Sine Nomine Publishing

Worlds Without Number is on sale. I have only read the free version briefly, but seems very good overall, and I've appreciated many other titles form the same author, including Scarlet Heroes and Silent Legions (maybe my favorite OSR take on horror and Lovecraft).

I think that's it for now. If you know any other books on sale that you'd recommend (especially if it is 30% off), let me know in the comments and I'll add it to my list. Feel free to promote your own products!

These are all Affiliate links - by using them, you're helping to support this blog!

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

DTRPG print costs will increase on April 1

DriveThruRPG is set to significantly raise the cost of print-on-demand products, with an increase ranging from 20% to 80%, as mentioned on Reddit (see below).

This is a good opportunity to get Teratogenicon if you're interested.

This book has impressive art - take a look at the previews to see for yourself! It is a book I enjoy having in print.

I have no idea how much it will it cost after the change.

I will get a few books for myself too, although I'm still not sure what to get. These are all book I already have and recommend:

* Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition)

* Monster Manual (1st and 2nd Edition, with 2e being my favorite)

* Fiend Folio

* Rules Cyclopedia

* Dark Sun Boxed Set

These are books I enjoy browsing and referencing. The Dark Sun Boxed Set is probably my favorite to sit down and read, study, etc.

I don’t want to have any modules because I run games mostly online nowadays, so I’m exploring other settings. (If I were to buy a module, I'd probably get B10, which I'm running now). I don't think I need any more monsters either.

Unfortunately, many books I'd like to own have no POD available, so I must get them elsewhere. This includes Moldvay's Basic and 0D&D, the original D&D.

But I might pick some classics such as:

* D&D Expert Set Rulebook (B/X ed.)

* Hollow World Campaign Setting (Basic)

* Ravenloft Domains of Dread (2e)

* Dark Sun Campaign Setting (4e)

BTW: if you don't want to give money to WotC, I think this is perfectly reasonable. I avoid it nowadays too. There are several good reasons that I won't discuss here.

Other games I might get, based on impressions and recommendations from others, are:

* Tales of Argosa (and you get the PDF for free).

* ORWELL – Role-Playing in a Dystopian Future (you also get the PDF for free). My impressions here.

* ... and that is what I've got so far.

Do you have any other recommendations?

Things with good art, price, etc., are preferable, but mainly I just want stuff I can sit down and read.

Anyway, here is the text from DTRPG:

Upcoming Print-on-Demand Book Price Changes – Effective April 1, 2025

We always want to keep print costs as low as possible, and it has been years since we passed any price increases through to our publishing partners.

However, our print supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced a price adjustment starting April 1, 2025, that will be reflected on DriveThru sites.

Key Changes

Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.

UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but generally only by 3-4%.

Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.

On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.

Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.

Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.

Contains affiliate links. By purchasing stuff through affiliate links you're helping to support this blog.

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

GMs day sale (2025) - OSR, classic D&D and others

GMs day sale has arrived, so here are my picks (same as last years with some additions).

Notice that the usual discount this year is 40%.

First, let me remind you that all of my books are included in the sale!

If your tastes are similar to mine, take a look! They are mostly compatible with OSR games (except for a couple of 5e books - "Manual of Arms").

Here are some big discounts. Knave 2e is 50% off.

The Halls of Arden Vul Complete is also 40% off again - or $45.00 off. Sounds reasonable for 1.100 pages (!) although it is probably too much material for me to digest.

Now, let's see the old favorites...

Big discounts!

These products seem to be about 40% off and I find each of them interesting. The first two are my own. Some are also mentioned (and further explained) below:

OSR

* Teratogenicon, my monster maker (check the previews!).

* Dark Fantasy Basic, my B/X neoclone.

* Hyperborea (my impressions).

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

* Tales of Argosa is 20% off.

Classic D&D

This are some of my favorites, also 40% off. Explanation here.

* Monstrous Manual (2e).

* Dark Sun boxed set.

* B10 Night's Dark Terror - one of my favorite classic adventures.

Goodman Games

They also publish awesome adventures; alas, few are on sale, but fortunately Doom of the Savage King, the one I am currently running, is 40% off! Recommended! Same for Jewels of the Carnifex, which I reviewed here.

Necrotic Gnome

Sine Nomine Publishing

Worlds Without Number is 40% off. I have only read the free version briefly, but seems very good overall, and I've appreciated many other titles form the same author, including Scarlet Heroes and Silent Legions (maybe my favorite OSR take on horror and Lovecraft).

I think that's it for now. If you know any other books on sale that you'd recommend (especially if it is 40% off), let me know in the comments and I'll add it to my list. Feel free to promote your own products!

These are all Affiliate links - by using them, you're helping to support this blog!

Thursday, July 18, 2024

Christmas in July (2024) picks

Christmas in July has arrived, so here are my usual picks, with some additions.

The most recent OSR deal right now is probably Knave 2e. I'm curious about this one - I really liked the first one.

Dragonbane is currently 4.99, which might make me finally get it.

Same for The Witcher if you're interested - doesn't look like my type of game.

Or Dungeons of Drakkenheim if you are into 5e - looks really cool, and I might get it for my OSR games.

Here are all the deep discounts - up to 80% off!

Also, let me remind you that all of my books are included in the sale!

This includes my latest work, Basic Wilderness Encounters - which recently got a couple of 5-star ratings!

If your tastes are similar to mine, take a look! They are mostly compatible with OSR games (except for a couple of 5e books - "Manual of Arms").

HYPERBOREA - which I reviewed here - is also included.

The Halls of Arden Vul Complete is also 40% off - or $45.00 off. Sounds reasonable for 1.100 pages (!) although it is probably too much material for me to digest.

Now, let's see the old favorites...

OSR

* Teratogenicon, my monster maker (check the previews!).

* Dark Fantasy Basic, my B/X neoclone.

* Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition (review of the original version);

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

Classic D&D

This are some of my favorites. Explanation here.

* Monstrous Manual (2e) - the current price is RIDICULOUSLY LOW for such a a great book.

* Dark Sun boxed set.

Goodman Games

They also publish awesome adventures; Doom of the Savage King is highly recommended! Same for Jewels of the Carnifex, which I reviewed here.

Necrotic Gnome

Sine Nomine Publishing

These are all Affiliate links - by using them, you're helping to support this blog!

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Basic Wilderness Encounters is now available!

My new book, Basic Wilderness Encounters, is now available!

It is 50% off for the first week or so - but if you bought ANY of my books before, see if you got my e-mail before buying.

I've been obsessing about random encounters for the last few months of my hexcrawl campaign...

I really liked adding them to my games, but there were some aspects that I found troublesome in practice: mostly, it took me too long to generate encounters and the results did not always make sense.

In this book, I try to tackle the whole idea of random encounters: the tables, procedures, terrains, and so on.

The first part of this book is a collection of thoughts, ideas and alternatives for creating random encounters - including reaction, distance, surprise number of monsters appearing, balance, and so on.

The second part is a list of 1000 random encounters (100 for each type of terrain), one line for each, including number, distance, surprise, and a few details, using this format (I added a summary of terrain features for easy reference):

The third part of the book describes a year in the wilderness – giving you a random encounter check, a succinct description of weather and some random details:

Each part can be used separately.

Take a look at the previews to see if you like it!

Writing this book has made using random encounters faster, easier and more fun in my own campaigns - I hope it does the same to yours!

Saturday, April 27, 2024

ORWELL @2081 - the PDF is now available!

ORWELL @2081*, by my friend Jens, is now available on DTRPG in PDF format, as mentioned in his blog.

As I've mentioned before, this is an interesting RPG - one of a kind, really.

Maybe you could see it as the "current" version of the classic Paranoia* - once we were afraid once war, treason and constant vigilance, now we are threatened by social media, AI, infantilization, pharmaceuticals, fake news and, well, constant vigilance again.

It also reminds me of Misspent Youth* or Cyberpunk* somewhat.

But these are just references - ORWELL (or Ø2\\‘3||) has its own thing going on.

The writing is provocative and enticing; it paints a very grim picture of the future (and present...).

The art is dark and awesomely creepy, check this out:

The layout is clean and good looking.

The system is quite unique, using 3d12 and various twists that distinguish it from the D&D-like RPGs I'm used to.

Anyway, here's the blurb:

Welcome to a very dark world ...

The setting is Europe in the year 2081, unified under one totalitarian party called The Family. The United States of Europe (USE, for short) are a playground for all the bad ideas this century has already come up with (and some of the classics from the last 100 years). Citizens are rated by an arbitrary and mean Social Status system, puberty blockers are mandatory for all but the Elites. All of this is shrouded through a huge media ruse: reality is hidden behind a fully augmented and gamified layer, maintained by an AI implanted at birth and controlled by The Family. Citizens never grow up, just grow older and if they aren't high in social status, they are bled and used for everything they have, most of the time without even realizing it. That veil is lifted for some, and with that comes resistance (or opportunity).

It’s a game that assumes players are open to exploring all kinds of ideas and willing to put some thought into the stories they tell and experienced DMs who want to explore a system that challenges them as well. It is also a satire of a dystopian future that may not yet fall upon us …

I'd recommend you check this one out especially if you like:

- Tragic/satiric views of our possible futures.

- Very dark humor.
- Games such as "Paranoia" and "We happy few".
- Books like 1984 (Orwell), Brave New World, and The Futurological Congress, or anything by PKD.
- Black Mirror.
- Amazingly creepy art.

- An innovative, unique system.

* Affiliate links.

Friday, March 01, 2024

GMs day sale (2024) - OSR, classic D&D and others

GMs day sale has arrived, so here are my picks (same as last years with some additions).

Notice that the usual discount this year is 40%, which is even better than last year IIRC...

First, let me remind you that all of my books are included in the sale!

If your tastes are similar to mine, take a look! They are mostly compatible with OSR games (except for a couple of 5e books - "Manual of Arms").

There are some big discounts if you use VTT, which I don't. Dragonbane looks good so... maybe?

New stuff I'm getting this year:

- I've been curious about AS&SH for a while, and might finally check it out.

- I've been running some classic modules and I might get Night Below and others (recommend some in the comments!).

The Halls of Arden Vul Complete is also 40% off - or $45.00 off. Soudns reasonable for 1.100 pages (!) although it is probably too much material for me to digest.

Now, let's see the old favorites...

Big discounts!

These products seem to be about 40% off and I find each of them interesting. The first two are my own. Some are also mentioned (and further explained) below:

OSR

* Teratogenicon, my monster maker (check the previews!).

* Dark Fantasy Basic, my B/X neoclone.

* Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition (review of the original version);

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

Classic D&D

This are some of my favorites, also 40% off. Explanation here.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/317448/Teratogenicon

* Monstrous Manual (2e) - the current price is RIDICULOUSLY LOW for such a a great book.

* Dark Sun boxed set.

Goodman Games

Necrotic Gnome

Sine Nomine Publishing

Worlds Without Number is probably the hottest "new" (released in April/2021) OSR title on sale with 40% off. I have only read the free version briefly, but seems very good overall, and I've appreciated many other titles form the same author, including Scarlet Heroes and Silent Legions (maybe my favorite OSR take on horror and Lovecraft).

These are all Affiliate links - by using them, you're helping to support this blog!

Monday, October 23, 2023

Teratogenicon is the DEAL OF THE DAY - 50% off!

Dear friends,

Teratogenicon, our most impressive book, is the DEAL OF THE DAY on DTRPG. - 50% off!

The books is a collection of tables and essays on how to create your own monsters.

It contains one chapter for each of the fourteen most famous monster types (aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, and so on). Each chapter examines specific habits, appearance, goals, traits, powers, origins, and many other topics.

In addition, the appendixes will help you to create stats (for both old school and contemporary games), to roleplay monsters, and to include all monster types into a coherent whole, among other things.

If you haven't got it yet, this is your chance. It is compatible both with OSR and modern RPGs.

If you buy it - or if you already got it - you can also buy my "everything bundle" for a discounted price, after you buy Teratogenicon.

Just check the previews to see if it piques your interest!

And please share, like, upvote and retweet if you can!

Friday, May 12, 2023

Lamentations MEGASALE and PICKS!

As you probably know, LotFP (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) is a Basic clone famous for its gory, mature, bloody art, and some interesting adventures. The rules are great, IMO: well organized, streamlined, and even somewhat rebalanced. It "fixes" many rough edges from Basic: thief skills, cleric progression, encumbrance, etc.

BTW: If you don't know LoTFP, read this. And if you want to know what kind of adventures these are, read this.

They are currently doing a HUGE sale for ALL products - everything for 1.15!

But let me warn you: this not for the faint of hearth. Some modules are dark, strange, bloody, often experimental, and sometimes extremely graphic and gory.

The average quality of these products is such that I can say that, for this price, you might consider buying the whole bunch.

But if you are thinking of picking some specific books, but don't know what to pick... Here are some of my favorites.

I tried to go a bit off the beaten path, but all their best sellers are probably worth checking out.

First, get the main rules. They are very good. Free version here.

Qelong is a great sandbox adventure by Kenneth Hite. I put this one first because it's less famous than others, and I think it deserves the attention. I've ran the whole module and is it one of the best coherent/self-contained OSR sandbox setting out there.

Carcosa is a dark/weird setting that is FULL of inspiration. Lovecraftian horrors, dark rituals, advanced tech, sword and sorcery... If you liek any of these, check this book.

Both contain amazing art by Rich Longmore, BTW.

Isle of the Unknown is not quite Carcosa but might be worth for the amazing looks and weird monsters alone.

Random Esoteric Creature Generator is an amazing monster maker, and this version has awesome art too. It was one of my inspirations for writing Teratogenicon.

Staffortonshire Trading Company is... a collection of historical maps and floor plans! Looks incredibly useful.

I haven't read Veins of The Earth, but I've got it. It looks good, full of interesting ideas, and has lots of positive reviews. Same for Broodmother SkyFortress.

I've ran The God That Crawls recently and it it is a very interesting adventure - if not for everyone. Review here.

Better Than Any Man you can get for free, but also deserves mention, it is a great adventure.

I've got World of the Lost because I find Chandler's stuff amazing. Haven't finished it yet.

Well, we could be here all day, but that is a good start. If you like weird, dark, OSR stuff, you can't miss this one.

By purchasing stuff through affiliate links you're helping to support this blog.

Saturday, April 22, 2023

100 Dark Fantasy Backgrounds is out!

My new book, 100 Dark Fantasy Backgrounds, is out!

100 Dark Fantasy Backgrounds is a collection of backgrounds for your dark fantasy games. There are no statistics or specific mechanics here; this is mostly a collection of ideas.

Check the PREVIEWS, above, to see some examples!

The first part lists 100 dark fantasy backgrounds with some detail – usually two or three sentences, sometimes more. Most with a tragic or dark twist.

The second part is a single page, adapted from Dark Fantasy Characters, with 80 one-word backgrounds (such as actor, beggar, blacksmith, etc.). These are not specifically “dark”. You can use them to add more detail to your characters’ past or choose one of them instead of the dark fantasy ones. You can ignore part one and combine this with part three to generate your own tragedies – but, again, not all characters need tragedy!

The third part is a tragic events generator, a collection of random tables that can generate thousands of different results. You can use them to create your own backgrounds or to add detail to a background from parts one and two. For example, if you roll the “criminal” background in the first part, you can choose which crime using a random table in the second. Likewise, if you suffered some injustice, you can check this part to find a culprit or to find out how old you were when it happened.

Although this is a systemless book, it is especially suited for medieval dark fantasy games, such as Dark Fantasy Basic.

Wednesday, March 01, 2023

GMs day sale (2023) - OSR & classic D&D picks

GMs day sale has arrived, so let's update my post from last year with the current offers.

First, let me remind you that most of my books are included in this sale! If your tastes are similar to mine, take a look! They are mostly compatible with OSR games (except for a couple of 5e books - "Manual of Arms").

Now, let's see what other favorites are there...

Big discounts!

These products seem to be about 30% off and I find each of them interesting. The first two are my own. Some are also mentioned (and further explained) below:

OSR

* Teratogenicon, my monster maker (check the previews!).

* Dark Fantasy Basic, my B/X neoclone.

* Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition (review of the original version);

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

* Cha'alt (review).

Classic D&D

This are some of my favorites, also 30% off. Explanation here.

ALTERNATE MAGIC is now a gold bestseller!

* Monstrous Manual (2e) - the current price is RIDICULOUSLY LOW for such a a great book.

* Dark Sun boxed set.

Goodman Games

They also publish awesome adventures; alas, few are on sale, but fortunately Doom of the Savage King, the one I am currently running, is 30% off! Recommended! Same for Jewels of the Carnifex, which I reviewed here.

Necrotic Gnome

Several Old School Essentials titles are also on sale in addition to the heavily discounted Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome. I really like Old-School Essentials. It is basically a concise, well-organized version of my favorite D&D (B/X). The SRD is great. the version that interests me the most is the advanced version - it is NOT an AD&D clone, but B/X with many new options taken from AD&D, dragon magazine, etc. For players and DMs.

Sine Nomine Publishing

Worlds Without Number is probably the hottest "new" (released in April/2021) OSR title on sale. I have only read the free version briefly, but seems very good overall, and I've appreciated many other titles form the same author, including Scarlet Heroes and Silent Legions (maybe my favorite OSR take on horror and Lovecraft).

These are all Affiliate links - by using them, you're helping to support this blog!

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Alternate Magic is GOLD!

You can check half of it in the free previews - if you like what you see, you'll probably enjoy the book!

ALTERNATE MAGIC is a collection of mechanics for old school and OSR systems.

If you like "Basic" games and its clones (Old School Essentials, Basic Fantasy RPG, Labyrinth Lord, etc.), or even other OSR games, and want to expand magic options, you'll certainly enjoy this one!

In these pages, you'll find:

- New spellcasting classes;

- Flexible spells, suited for any spell level.

- Blood magic, random magic, and spell points.

- Cantrips and rituals.

- Alternatives for the cleric class.

- ...and many other tools.

The book is entirely modular! Each chapter can be used by itself or in combination with other chapters. For example, you might use blood magic with the traditional spellcasting system or combine it with flexible magic. You can use random magic with spell points or cantrips, or by itself. You might use the new classes without changing anything else in your game.

If you buy any of my books, check your e-mail for news, discounts, and so on!

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Quick Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals

Here are some deals, FWIW.

Frog God probably has the biggest sale ATM. Some titles - both 5e and OSR - are 60% off. Not sure what to pick, since I'm not into megadungeons and detailed settings. Maybe Monstrosities and Tehuatl.

Some of my own books are included in the sale (I don't know how they chose it).

Old School Feats and Alternate Magic are compatible with B/X and OSE, BFRPG, etc. They add lots of options to your games without getting to AD&D/RC levels of complexity, and you can check the free previews in the site to read almost half the books.

If you're into 5e, my two 5e books are also on sale (weapons and armor).

I also have a couple of "get everything" bundle for 50% off, but these are not Black Friday deals:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/334251/Chaos-Factory-EVERYTHING-BUNDLE
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/306824/Dark-Fantasy-EVERYTHING-BUNDLE

And here are some deals I've recommended in the past and are currently on sale:

OSR

* Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells.

* Low Fantasy Gaming Deluxe Edition (review of the original version);

* Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome;

* Cha'alt (review).

Classic D&D