Review On The Free OSR Product - Children of the Aesir From The Andonome Coterie For The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System

Grab It Right Over
HERE

Right this is exactly the sort of quality product that I'm looking for when wanting to bring you the best AS&SH adventures for review and down load. This is a Viking style system agnostic adventure that can easily be slipped into your current sword and sorcery game or right into the AS&SH world.
The Drive Thru Rpg Blurb: Children of the Aesir is a gritty, Norse adventure.  Twelve unhappy prisoners are thrown into an acursed mine and each player receives a number of these characters to play; and they will need all of them.  The characters are weak and the dungeon is brutal.  They will be strangled, burnt, bludgeoned, insulted and confused.  If any reach the end of the dungeon and retreive the blood-stone, they will receive the revelation that they are the child of a god and a mortal - a demi-god, and are fated for great things.  At this point the surviving characters receive great powers and can return home, blasting and hacking at the creatures they previously fled from.
 
This is a fifty three page brutal romp of Norse goodness that will melt right into the background of your current Norse AS&SH campaign. The maps are nicely drawn and plot brutal and nasty. This adventure makes a nice middle of the road adventure for AS&SH with very little in the way of fiddly bits to get in the way of your PC's excitement. 
The plot has some twists and turns. The adventure operates like something right out of a Frezetta painting come to life with your PC's bloodied and bruised as they navigate this adventure. The ideas here are not original but they are freshly presented into a whole cloth that can easily be adapted to about 90% of the retroclones on the market currently.  All in all this one is well written and interesting. With a bit of work this adventure could be the start of a mini campaign lasting several weeks with experienced players. 

All in all Children of the Aesir has lots of potential for the right group of players and its a nice free product! Don't miss this one! 

Review And Commentary On The Free OSR Product - Black Streams: Solo Heroes From Sine Nomine Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign

Grab It Right Over
HERE
The snows, flu, and winter in general can make OSR play difficult at the best of times and not being able to get together with friends is nasty on a campaign. This product makes that not as unpleasant as it could possibly when your players lose interest, experience goes off, and your players characters are at other ends of the table.  Did I mention that this product is free and also comes with a free adventure as well? 
According to the Drivethrurpg blurb:

Maybe you want to show a friend the fun of classic D&D, but you can't pull a group together on short notice. Maybe you have nights where only one friend can make it, and you're tired of breaking out the card games. Maybe you just want to run a side game for somebody, but don't feel like weighing them down with an entourage of henchmen just so they can survive their first combat. What do you need? You need Solo Heroes, a free Labyrinth Lord-compatible supplement for lone adventuring.

While written for the Red Tide Campaign Setting and Sandbox Toolkit, this supplement is compatible with a wide range of old-school games. Within, you'll find a simple set of rules for running classic adventures with just a single PC. There's no need to alter character sheets or rework modules to make them survivable for whatever class your player has chosen- Solo Heroes gives you a handful of simple rules for turning such solitary exploration from a death wish in the making to a daring tale of risk and potential glory.

In addition to these rules, the mini-adventure of The Yellow Toad God's Well is provided to give you a little something instant to run for your player's new hero. And if it turns out you've got a full group for that night's session? Just drop the optional rules and run it by the book.Solo Heroes lets you play the game without painful paperwork and adventure redesign, whether for one player or half a dozen.

 This is a great set of solo play adventure rules that are completely well balanced and very well thought out. These are perfect for a sword and sorcery campaign as well as emulating that old school feel. They are made for Labryth Lord but with the options as easily laid out they can be adapted into your favorite rules set.
I've been looking into using these with Astonishing Swordsmen and have to talk with my players to see if their open but from the looks of things this one is a no brainer. Grab these quick and take them for a spin for a bit of solo play.  

Review Of The Free OSR Product Black Streams: Cults of Ruin From Sine Nomine Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign

Grab It Right Over
HERE

A player of mine reminded me of this one today. This is by Sine Nomine products and this one is part of their Black Steams free product line which was done by them using the  Red Tide Campaign Setting and Sandbox Toolkit.
 This is a pretty nasty product in what it does, how it does it, and what can be done with it. This is a product that easily loosened upon a Sword and Sorcery campaign in the old school style with a modern design twist. Its very well done and very professional. I'm intimately familiar with Sine Nome's products through my long standing relationship with Stars Without Number.
Drive thru Rpg blurb: 

Description:

Gain further insight into the dark powers of the Sunset Isles with Cults of Ruin. Inside this free supplement you'll learn truths about five different foul sects. The devotees of the Black Emperor, the slaves of the Hell Kings, and stranger faiths still are given in this text along with guidelines for using them in your own campaign.

As a bonus, you also get the Azure Inquisitor, a Labyrinth Lord-compatible class dedicated to the rooting out of vile cults and secret cabals.

While written for the Red Tide Campaign Setting and Sandbox Toolkit, this supplement's information is easily reskinned for your own home campaign, with abominable faiths and foul creeds for your heroes to smite with righteous fury.

This is not the Book of Vile Darkness ( not that there's anything wrong with that product), but a very well balanced product that will easily slip into your old school campaign. It might take some modification but this one might be used in an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but it its going to take a bit of shoe horning and some fiddling with the ideas of this product.
I think that for a free product this is a pretty nifty set of ideas and some interesting twists to throw at your players. All in all I was happy with the download. I'm going to serious have to start looking into the other Black Stream product and see what I can unleash upon my players. 

1d10 Random Star Crossed Lovers Encounter Table For The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System

1d10 Random Star Crossed Lovers Encounter Table

 For The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea

1. A warrior on the run from a pack of  1d8 Amazons warriors 2nd level wish to kill him if they should catch him. Why is unknown? But a princess 3rd level fighter from the same tribe wants to save him from her sisters. She needs help. 
2. Two barbarians move to bring together a pair of lovers whose tribes are at war. The fact is that these two marriage could heal the rift between them. 
3. A wizard is selling love charms for a local marriage arranger. But he's on the  run from a succubus from whom he's stolen the secret to make these. 
4. A ruined prince has had his heart shattered by the death of his sweet heart. She's been killed by a rival of her prince. But her ghost is haunting him to the point of insanity. He needs the help of a group of adventurers to free himself from this curse. 
5. A cursed magical crown holds the soul of an ancient queen. It has recently surfaced upon the shores of a local river. It now is looking for a new body inhabit. She is a 5th level wizard and wishes to reestablish her kingdom. She will seek out a cave of artifacts nearby. 
6. A pair of adventurers seeks help on a local mission. They were once lovers but have run afoul of a local Lamia who seeks to spread her influence. 
7. An Atlantian demi lich seeks to raise his princess from the dead. He needs the help of adventurers to uncover her tomb. He promises to split the loot from her tomb but can he be trusted. 
8. A pair of kids are on the run from their tribe of barbarians. They wish to hire adventurers to get them across the border and escape the wrath of their fathers. There is also a pair of undead after these bastions of innocence as well. The kids are unaware of their predicament. 
9. An estranged son seeks to revenge himself upon the family of his former betrothed family by seeking out an artifact. He's looking to hire a party to help find this treasure. 
10. This princess is on the run from her former lover. She has become aware of her position as a key cosmic lynch pin for the local demonic Lovecraftian god. Her lover is seeking to hire adventurers to help find her. 

Review and Commentary On The Free OSR Product - The Old School Dungeons - Crypt of the Dread Lord From Crypt Thing Press For The Astonishing Swordsmen And Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System

Grab It Right Over
HERE 


This is a system agnostic product that is perfect for a pulptastic set of ruins for your old school sword and sorcery game or as an Atlantian pile of ruins for AS&SH.
Because of the laying of the pdf this product is perfect for dealing with the multi complex situations that seem to crop up in AS&SH games over and over again. 

In three pages you get everything you need for an extended play of AS&SH all for free add in the monsters and motives for the PCs then your good to go.
From The Drive Thru rpg blurb: 

Crypt of the Dread Lord

What horrors await within the burial crypt of the fabled Dread Lord? Who among you are foolish enough to brave the depths of this mysterious dungeon?

In this Old School Dungeon you will find a map of an ancient crypt, although it is designed to be generic enough to fit a multitude of uses. 

Welcome to Crypt Thing Press’ Old School Dungeons!

The Old School Dungeons product line offers you old school style dungeon maps for use in your role playing games. Whether you build an adventure around the location or just need a quick map for when the players run off the beaten path, Old School Dungeons has you covered.

Each dungeon map comes layered with room numbers, dungeon dressing, and secrets, so you can enable as much or as little information as is needed for your purposes.
 Much of the material can easily be customized into the AS&SH mindset and the material taken to create a very pulpish and solid background for this dungeon. Monsters from AS&SH should easily transfer over allowing that extra edge of material where needed. 
 Over all the feel and temper of the dungeon should invite further exploration of this crypt and the DM shouldn't think anything of dropping even more hints, tips, and tricks to this one. The dungeon is well done and solid but sparse in effect but that is to be expected for this style of product. The best thing about this one is that it's free. Easy to adapt, customize, sell to your players as a mid level dungeon inside an on going sword and sorcery campaign.  

1d10 After The Raid Of The Serpent Men Random Encounter Table For Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea

1d10 After The Raid Of The Serpent Men Random Encounter Table

1. A small child comes from out of the destruction covered in a fine network of tattoos and weird serpent men glyphes. What do they mean and why do her eyes seem to prick and dance with firelight? 
2. 1d8 sub human stunted and dwarfed humanoids pick and root around the bodies. They appear to be looking for some one or some thing. They haveleather d instruments or tools. There is a 20% chance of some technological artifact among them. They  will scatter at the first sign of trouble. 
3. A group of degenerate serpent men humanoid hybrid warriors 2nd level fighters armed with flint spears, clubs, and small shields works among the dead carrying off bodies for their masters. They have a small bag filled with kidneys,eyes, and other body parts. 
4. A full serpent man wizard moves across the scene looking for an ancient artifact. 70% chance of having a technological treasure. 4th level wizard and capable of great evil. 
5. A group of undead ju ju zombie hybrids moves among the remains here feeding on the dead and performing horrid rites to their ancient gods. There is 20% chance of some horror descending from the stars this night to their ministrations. They look for the stars to be right. 
6. A lone pack of subhuman survivors stumbles from the darkness. They're sanity has been blasted beyond all endurance and their minds hum with demonic possession. One demon inhabits all of them after coming down from the stars. The thing has a hidden agenda and is moving out into the world. 
7. An ancient alien has been awoken from a long slumber the thing is armed with an technological blaster that does 1d6 points of damage to anything in a forty yard range. It wishes to contact its descendants here on Hyperborea. It has a near by saucer but needs certain humanoid brain parts for its computers. Yours might do. 
8. An ancient Hound of Tindalos has been awakened from its long slumber by the serpent men and now stalks the countryside. An ancient tablet may send it back to its frozen nether hells of time and space. 
9. 1d8 constructs of the Great Race have awakened and begun to carry out their last orders and collecting the locals for experimentation. A serpent man has taken charge of this ancient installation and oversees the project. Nearby a shaggoth powers the place. 
10. The Serpent men have awakened a Star Spawn of Cthulhu and the thing is breaking free of its ancient crypt. Are the stars right? 

Review and Commentary On DC Comics Warlords Graphic Novel For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

Way back when DC first got into doing 80's style slick 'Graphic Novels' on of their first attempts into that market was the graphic novel Warlords.  This is an old school sword and sorcery graphic from 1983 done when DC/Atari had formed an alliance for comics. Warlords is by Steve Skeates as writer and the artwork is David Wenzel.  

Warlords concerns the troll Dwayne whose a classic amoral OD&D thief, con artist, and not a character that I actually like at all. The setting is a typical pseudo Dark Ages Europe, this comic dates from a time when maps were in the back or front of every fantasy even some science fantasy novels as well. Back to Dwayne who is awakened to act as a guide for an army of one of four brothers. The Warlords of the story so to speak. Each brother embodies a certain characteristic, his kingdom, tactics, abilities,etc. all reflect traces of  a piece of a magical amulet that they own.

King Restivo has the kingdom of wonders and has a scientific genius working for him
 Dom The Picious uses the power of dogma and religion namely HIS own to enslave and build his own state run religious kingdom.
Marcus The Wizard King - Marcus is a wizard of high level with a nasty streak a mile wide and the cause of much of the action.
King Philip is the youngest of the brothers and is a paladin of high degree who ends up Dwayne's half giant friend Bertem. The troll leaves his partner in crime high and dry with some really nasty characters. Seriously throughout the book I wanted to punch the troll repeatedly. 

The artwork is very well done but the characters began to get on my last nerve. Especially the troll. The kingdom of trolls is a sort of stand in for hobbits, fey, etc. little peoples but Dwayne is a true neutral evil kinda being with tendencies toward profit. I found him really an annoying part of the comic. 

There are lots of good ideas lurking in the background such as the four sides of the brothers vs one another. They were like a bunch of low level 'evil' adventurers given kingdoms and a bit of magical power. 

The map was quite nice and useful if a DM wants  to build in a new set of rulers, background and creatures. The Trolls had some really interesting ideas to them but they were hardly fleshed out and needed a bit more Old School hardcore to make them truly memorable. 

I know that this graphic was written as a comedic affair and the artwork is well done. The story is concise, well written, and the artwork is solid but the troll made me want to kill him as a DM. Repeatedly. If you can pick this one up for a buck or fifty cents then do so.