New Year New Game Sale 2024: The OSR Goodness

The New Year New Game Sale is on at DTRPG, and it's got a lot of cool OSR titles I recommend!

The theme of the sale is getting to start a new rpg, so a lot of game systems are on sale, along with low level or introductory scenarios. Here are my favorites!

Old-School Essentials Official:

The Old-School Essentials Classic Rules Tome, by far my favorite OSR game

The Hole in the Oak and The Incandescent Grottoes, adventures for level 1-2, by Gavin Norman

OSE compatible:

Wyvern Songs four-adventure anthology (level 1-6), Hideous Daylight by Brad Kerr

Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier acclaimed level 1 adventure by Gus L

In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe and The Scourge of Northland, regional modules by Jacob Fleming 

Planar Compass Issue 1 zine by D. M. Wilson and Sarah Brunt

Other OSR game systems:

Errant by Ava Islam

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells  and also Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells by Diogo Nogueira

Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawdord

Maze Rats by Ben Milton 

Other OSR modules:

Fever Swamp by Luke Gearing

Slumbering Ursine Dunes by Chris Kutalik

The Waking of Willowby Hall by Ben Milton

The Haunted Hamlet - and other hexes by Lazy Litch

Dyson's Delves and Dyson's Delves 2 by Dyson Logos

The Frozen Temple of Glacier Peak by Robin Fjarem

The Gardens of Ynn and The Stygian Library by Emmy Allen

Aberrant Reflections and The Seers Sanctum, acclaimed puzzle dungeons by by directsun

Expanding HeroQuest: My Homebrew Rules!

As I mentioned in my previous HeroQuest post, I've come up with a bunch of new rules to tweak the game to my liking, so here they are.

I don't want to make the game deeper or more realistic, nor turn it into a complex game of strategic combat. I like it the way it is: a simple board game I can play with my 7yo, his friends, and my non gamer friends.

They can be seen here.

These rules are designed to work together.

The Dungeon Events are meant to spice up the game a bit, and encourage players to keep exploring without wasting time setting up the best position for each group member before they open a door.

The One Search Action rule is meant to speed up exploration, as it reduces the chance for dungeon events when players want to search, which is a wise decision and should not penalize them.

Mind Points is a rule I needed because I've added "mind devouring" monsters from the Dungeons & Dragons adventure game, who inflict mind points. The statistics for these monsters will be in a future post!

Push & Pull is a rule I felt I needed to avoid the well-known door combats and train battles. When I play Zargon I don't pull punches, so my monsters always pull inside the room a hero who is blocking the door, if they can! Players can do that too, so on the whole combat becomes a little more dynamic.

Heroes Never Die is a rule that I recommend when playing with kids. Failing the quest is enough of a setback already, no need to further punish brave adventurers. This rule also implies that heroes should retire at some point, when a campaign/story is over.

Dual Wield is something I haven't tested, but want to try just because I've grabbed a few elves and dwarves with two weapons so I thought why not.

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For my next HeroQuest post, I'll probably share my big bad list of monster stats from all the games I've mashed into HQ!

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Into HeroQuest? Check out my other HeroQuest Posts!

About Kosmosaurs

You are a dinosaur. You are a Kosmo Ranger. You are a Kosmosaur—a protector of the galaxy. You and your companions travel through the stars to help all sorts of people, planets, and organizations by preventing disasters, battling assassin robots, banishing chaos mutants from the Void Dimension, and facing all kinds of weird dangers. [From the blurb]

Kosmosaurs is Diogo Nogueira's latest rpg.
If you don't know him, he's the author of several acclaimed games, including the Ennie-award winning OSE adventure Halls of the Blood King and big hits such as Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, Dark Streets & Darker Secrets, and Lost in the Fantasy World.

A few months ago Diogo asked on his socials for bloggers etc to check and review his upcoming game, so here I am. I received the work-in-progress pdf and had the opportunity to check it. Now the game is available both on Diogo's itch.io page and on DriveThruRPG.

Here's some basic facts:

• Written by Diogo Nogueira
• Lavishly illustrated by Łukasz Kowalczuk, with a colorful layout by Guilherme Gontijo
• Format is A5 or similar (guessing this from the pdf)
• At the time of writing this it is an 80-page full color sweet little book

It is inspired by Saturday morning cartoon shows and as such is a perfect game to play with younger players. The characters are Kosmosaurs, i.e. dinosaur space rangers and protectors of the galaxy. While it is not stated explicitly in the game, it's very well suited for children. That doesn't mean you can't have fun with it even with a group of adults, of course.

Let's see how the game works.

The core mechanic is inspired by John Harper's new classic Lasers & Feelings. Kosmosaurs only have two numerical statistics: Kosmo and Saurs, which represent intellectual and physical capabilities, respectively. When you create your character, you divide 5 points among these two stats, and that's the pool of d6s you roll when you make an attribute test. Characters are further defined by the type of dinosaur they are, of course (a pterosaur can fly, for example; an a ankylosaur can bash things with its tail, and so on), and they must also choose a role (pilot, scientist, xenologist, commando, etc), and two extra things the kosmosaur is good at and one thing they are bad at. Furthermore, each character can choose a number of significant items equal to their Saur score, and a number of knowledges equal to their Kosmo score. That's it for characters.

You roll your Kosmo or Saur pool of d6s, and add an extra die if the action is typical of your role, if that's something you're good at, or if one of your significant items or knowledges applies to the situation.

Things you are bad at, and stuff that your role would be bad at, reduce the die pool by one. Same goes for difficult actions, which is determined by the GM.

So you roll your pool and take the die with the highest result.

Results have five degrees of success and failure which can be described as:  No, and / No, but / Yes, but / Yes / Yes, and. These are not the terms used in the game, but I guess most of my readers get this type of thing. The game explains the results fairly clearly.

The rules are player facing, meaning the GM never rolls. Combat is quick with players rolling to attack and to avoid damage. Damage is handled as markings on your Kosmo or Saur scores, and the default rules dictate that characters don't die: they are just taken out for the scene, as appropriate for Saturday morning shows. Players also have the option of (temporarily) losing a meaningful item instead of taking Saur damage (which can be later repaired or replaced), or one of their knowledges instead of Kosmo damage (representing temporary self-doubt). 

The "combat" rules apply to any type of conflict really, so Kosmo damage can represent the outcome of a failed social conflict.

Beside their characters, the players get to create the group's spaceship, which is handled with similar stats as the Kosmosaurs.

This is pretty much all there is to it as regards rules. I didn't go into the details of the consequences of damage but I think you get the idea.

What I've found especially good is the large set of tables that accompany each section of the game: types of dinosaurs, roles and names, for players, and then a whole lot of tables for the GM: mission objective, antagonists, locations, supporting cast, complications and rewards are the tables you get to help you quickly set up a scenario. All of these are d66 tables, which means there are 36 results, a reasonable number for the scope of the game, and also a way to have tables with many entries in a game that only uses d6s. 

The book also contains a series of five detailed enemy factions, a sort of recurring villain organizations that help define the setting. They are: the Robot Empire, the Voidsaurs, the Undead (space) Pirates, the Slime Lords, and the Broccoloids. Each has a fun general description, a list of associated themes, and two d6 tables: one with what they want, and one with what they are doing. The first is more of a possible long-term objective which can be the subject of an adventure or even a series of adventures, while the second can fuel a scene or a single scenario.

The final pages of the book are the colorful character sheet and space ship sheet. 

Is this game for you?

I think there are two possible ways of playing this.

One way is to play with a group of kids of any age as soon as they can read and write a bit. Rolling a bunch of d6s is something children can do long before they can read, and the game requires zero math skills, but they need to be able to write a few things on their character sheet... unless you write stuff for them.

As a game for adults, it certainly is a great choice for a light-hearted game night for players who enjoy the joyful silliness of Power Rangers and similar shows.

What I find very good is that:

- the rules match very well the spirit of the "source material", with heroes that don't die, simple action, and no simulation or realism whatsoever;

-the same goes for the fabulous art which is colorful, full of action, and fun with a lot of goofy details and over the top characters;

-considering the two types of gaming groups I see this for, the suite of player and GM tables are very helpful and definitely help to get quickly into the game. You want all the help you can get to run a game for kids who are absolute beginners, and it's also good to have tables to quickly set up a scenario for them (or for adults, of course).

- The game has the potential to be a very good introduction to RPGs both for kids AND for parents who have never played rpgs before, so I've especially appreciated the few pages devoted to explaining how the game flows, and what are the task and responsibilities of the players and the GM. These include the who does what in game terms, but also some advice on the social aspects of the game. These recommendations may seem obvious to experienced role-players, but I think they are very precious for beginners.

So, yes, Kosmosaur seems like a great game. Frankly, I hope some Italian publisher will localize it. I see it as a perfect game for me to play with my 7yo, and as a gift I could give to my gaming friends who have children of similar age!

So yes I think you should definitely check it out!

10 QUESTIONS TO: Diogo Nogueira

Diogo Nogueira is a one man band: game designer, illustrator and layout artist of Old Skull Publishing games.
His most successful games include:

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets

Lost in the Fantasy World

He’s also designed Garden of Bones, one of the “Deadly Dungeons Hosts” adventures for Gold & Glory!

Diogo is also a father, a cat lover, and one of the few internationally known game designers from Brazil.

 

1 Hello Diogo. Tell us about your work as a designer, as if you were trying to explain it to my aunt!

I write, I draw and I combine the two things in a pretty and comprehensive package? Well, I love tabletop gaming, especially RPGs, that brings friends together to create something unique only they can create together. So I try to follow my heart and I create games I would like to play. I try to draw from many different sources, from literature, comics, cartoons, movies, other games, history and even our daily lives to make something that speaks to me and, hopefully to others as well. My focus is to make games with simple yet very flexible rules that allow people to play with as little preparation as possible, and requiring very little rules consultation during the game.




2 Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells was your first hit as Old Skull Publishing. What have you learnt about design in particular since its publication?

I’ve learned that the way you present the rules and arrange them is as important as the rules themselves. You may have a very tight and well thought system, but if the presentation isn’t good, it won’t seem it’s like that for many people. Graphic Design, Information Design and Game Design are actually way more connected than we think. I am still learning a lot and each new game I make I think gets me a little bit further in my practice.

3 Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is defined as a “Street & Sorcery Rules Light Role-Playing Game with an Old School spirit”. That’s a lot! Can you explain the setting, and how the rules are Old School?

Street & Sorcery is my way of saying this is a sword and sorcery game in modern times. So imagine if Conan, Fafhrd and Grey Mouser and other iconic S&S characters lived in our world today, and you get Dark Streets & Darker Secrets. It’s a game that’s inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Dresden Files, X-Files, Grimm and so on. In terms of rules, it presents a modern and streamlined system that fosters the style of play presented in the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming and Principia Apocrypha. It focus on player’s skill instead of character powers and rules, it’s open ended, it encourages improvisation, the focus on emergent storytelling and not character building and so onz

4 The Rumors rules in the Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Addendum are, in my view, one of the smartest rules I’ve ever read, and the perfect example of how your games blend the Old School spirit with more modern solutions. Which are the modern games that you’ve appreciated the most?

I play everything. I love the OSR, but any games that seems interesting to me I do my best to try it and experiment with it. Some of the games that inspire me outside of the OSR are The One Ring, Cortex Prime, Genesys, Fate, Blades in the Dark, Fiasco. There are probably others, but it’s hard to keep all of them on your mind. There are so many cool games out there.

5 Crowdfunding has become more and more important for RPGs. Do you see that changing anytime soon? How would YOU like things to change?

I don’t see it changing any time soon, at least internationally and in the US. Here in Brazil Crowdfunding is not seen with good eyes anymore as many publishers have done less than reputable things with it. I like crowdfunding because it’s a great way to connect with a community and get people involved. It allows people to pursue projects they could not pursue by themselves alone. However, it would be great if the fees were reduced or if there was a way to give more visibility to indie creators in these platforms. I would love to say that I wish creators earned enough money to be able to fund projects themselves, but nowadays almost everyone is struggling. But I can dream.

6 I know you are currently working on several games. The one that intrigues me the most is Descent into the Abyss, a Diablo inspired dungeon crawling solo rpg. A project that shares the same inspiration as Curse of Aufgartz... What can you tell us about it?

I can tell you that I have little idea of what I am doing, lol. Solo Game Design is a bit scarier for me because balance seems a bit more important because you won’t have the GM as a buffer and companion Game Designer to help you. The book has to do all the work. So I am experimenting with it and will probably release parts of it for people to play with and give me feedback. The goal is to make a Solo Dungeon Crawling game that feels like diablo but plays nice and easy. You will be able to choose different builds for your character. You will make choices before going to the dungeons that will affect the game. The dungeons will be procedurally generated, but will have unique tables and themes for each area (Cathedral of Death, Haunted Catacombs, Infernal Caverns and so on). It’s a love letter to a game I played a lot but also a reinterpretation of it.



7 If you could buy any franchise/IP for an RPG, which would it be? Tell us about the franchise and the game you’d make.

Gosh, that’s hard. I love so many IPs and would love to make games about them. This is the hardest question here. I think if I gotta pick just one, I would pick… Cadillacs and Dinosaurs!



8 Younger players. Any experience or tips you want to share? Has your experience as a father influenced the design of Lost in the Fantasy World?

Oh yeah, absolutely. I played with younger audiences before my son too as we organize Tabletop Events in schools here in Brazil from time to time. Kids and people new to the hobby have a lot of untapped creativity and they want to pour it all out on the game. And if you say no to them they will shut down. So try to say yes as much as you can, even if it a “yes, but…” where there are consequences or they need to pass a test of sorts. Some games are more loose than others and fit this style better.

9 Your games are published by Gallant Knight Games. What can you tell us about your collaboration?

Gallant Knight Games is great! They do all the boring stuff for me and I get to just create things with total freedom. Not to mention being from Brazil, I am very limited geographically, ans GKG is able to take my games to conventions and deal with distributors more easily than I can. Not to mention that Alan Bahr from GKG is a great friend and a mentor to me. I’ve learned a lot with him.


10 You are the only game designer that I know from Southern America. Do you think your origin has affected your games? Have you ever felt as an outsider in the rpg community at large (in a good or bad way)?

I’ve been asked this a few times and I am not 100% sure if it has. I try not to think so much about it and being too close to analyze my own stuff, I think this is easier to answer for someone else. But I am starting to think it affects my stuff a little bit. Being from a country always under the influence of more powerful nations, I often associate power and influence with something bad. The distrust of authority, the way governments, corporations and people appear in my games may be shaped by my perception of reality from down here. And yes, I constantly feel like an outsider in the RPG Community at large, in many ways. The way that people talk about living of games, production and distribution, or simply their reality. I go outside the house here and I am always afraid I can get shot. People in my social media from other places seem really surprised to hear gunshots. Here it’s a constant reality. I wish it wasn’t.



11 I know, they were supposed to be 10, but I have one more question before we say goodbye. Please point us to a song you think we should listen to.

A song? Just one? I guess I will have to go with What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone. It just fills me with hope and joy!

Thank you Diogo! Bye!!

Stay tuned for more interviews! Hit me on the Axian Spice Facebook page, on Twitter or even on Telegram to never miss one! 

If you want to support this blog, check my OSR and Savage Worlds stuff, or simply shop on DriveTrhuRPG (affiliate link).

About My First Carcassonne

 My First Carcassonne is the current board game hit with my son!

It is the simplified, kid-friendly version of the well-known classic Carcassonne. The box says 2-4 players, age 4+, 30 minutes.

It is a super easy game, with a lot of luck influencing the outcome, but with some room for clever (or less than clever) decisions.

Like the standard Carcassonne, you randomly draw tiles and connect them together, but all tiles always connect. Each tile has one or two kids printed on it, colored blue, yellow, red or purple.

Each player has 8 meeples of the chosen color, and is allowed to place them on the tiles when the road they are printed on is closed. So you need luck in drawing tiles with kids of your color, but you also need strategy in putting tiles with other players' kids in the worst places, so their roads are harder to close (i.e. take more tiles).

While very simple, it's nice for me to play, too.

So how is it faring with my boy?

In short, WONDERFULLY. It is the very first game my kid plays with all the rules in place, and actual strategic thinking, after just two games. And he is loving it.

Federico is five, so he's just above the minimum recommended age. I'm not sure he would have grasped the whole thing with the same depth of understanding if he had played it at four. At five he's actually capable of mastering all there is, and he seems well aware of it!

Fun fact: we've played seven games so far, and I haven't won a single game yet!

About Jurassic Snack

 Jurassic Snack is a board game by acclaimed designer Bruno Cathala, for 2 players, age 7+ (some editions have "8+" on the box, but I think 7 really is ok), with a 15-20 minutes duration.

And I love it!

I bought it about ten months ago at my FLGS. My son was not really old enough to play, at the time, but fell in love with the theme, of course, because DINOSAURS.

We've recently given it another try, and to my surprise he is now (5.5 YO) more than capable of handling all the rules, even though he's not yet competitive in the way he plays... but I assume he'll become better at it soon.

So what's cool about the game?

The materials are awesome. Nice plastic dinosaurs, big, sturdy and funny to look at, with painted eyes.

The game is simple enough for six/seven years old kids, but deep enough to keep adults engaged. It's got a nice mix of strategic decision (planning your moves to eat efficiently, decide if you want to eat a lot of leaves or try to scare all your opponent's dinosaurs away from the board), and random factor represented by the downside of the leaves counters, which introduce several effects.

One thing that's very good with young players is that you don't really know who's winning until the game ends and you count the points on the downsides of the leaves tokens each player has collected. This is good with kids who still struggle with losing...