The Children of Tekeli - A New Lovecraftian Monster For Your Old School Campaigns

The madness and monstrosity lay in the figures in the foreground—for Pickman’s morbid art was preëminently one of daemoniac portraiture. These figures were seldom completely human, but often approached humanity in varying degree.
Pickman's Model H.P. Lovecraft 

The Children of Tekeli are ape like cannibalistic humanoids prone to destruction,rapine,destruction, and incredible acts of horror and they have secretly been with us since the very beginning of our evolution upon this Earth. Ages ago they were called the Shaggoths, named after the protoplasmic horrors who served the Elder Things in ages past. They call themselves 'The children of Tekeli' and were created by the Elder Things in one of the long forgotten cycles of Earth's ages past. The children served the Elder Things during the Age of Mammals when their masters were in sharp decline, they destroyed the last Atlantian colonists  that had come back from their colonies on Uranus. They added their magick power, their gene pool, and forbidden technologies to their own damned heritage. This act occurred near the Black Forrest of Germany and even today is remembered through the collective unconsciousness of humanity. 

The Children of Tekeli carved out a massive empire through the under Earth touching upon all corners of the world that we know. These mad beast like thing's rise to power was chronicled in the so called Grey Necronomicon chapters  penned by Abdul Al Hazard. 

The Children of Tekeli are cannibalistic, brutal, dangerous, completely amoral and capable of the most heinous acts imaginable. They are the inheritors of both Uranian forbidden technologies and the foul alien sorcery of the Great Old Ones from the ancient days of Lemuria and Atlantis. Their vast underground former empire honey combs throughout the world of man. They are completely distinct from Lovecraftian ghouls and the Morlocks of H.G. Wells, though they share many characteristics with both species and are distantly related.

The Children have vast underground empires beneath the Earth and they are both long lived as well as partially undead in nature. The number between thirty to fifty million and use humanity as both a stable food source and a secondary gene pool. They have vast underworld complexes and hidden lairs behind our own world's facade, it is known that they employ undead minions to record daily activities and strange details of our own world. The tribes of the child have contacts and cults throughout the world and employ thousands of dedicated minions who often help them kidnap modern men and keep vast slavery rings. These activities stretch back thousands of years into the remotest epochs of the past.

The Children of Tekeli

Frequency : Uncommon 

Number Appearing: 2-8

Armor Class: 5

Move:14"

Hit Dice: 7

% in Lair 20% 

Treasure Type : O,P,Q

Number of Attacks: 3 

Damage : 1-4/1-4/1-8

Special Attacks: Rending 

Special Defenses: Nil 

Magic Resistance : Standard 

Intelligence: High

Alignment: Lawful Evil 

Size : L (7'+ , Very Broad )

Psionic Ability : Nil 

Attack/Defense Modes: Nil 

The Children of Tekeli attack humans and have a very heavy appetite for human flesh, they have supernaturally keen senses of hearing, smell, and keenly developed infrared sight for their nearly light less environment. They are only surprised on a roll of one. If the child strikes with both claws it does an additional 1-8 hit points of rending damage.
For every 1d30 children there will be a wizard or priest of at least third level or higher. These black hearted and evil damned souls choose spells from the Gray magic schools and the black lists of spells. These monsters are subject to all forms of attack but are immune to sleep and charm spells. The children may be turned by priests and other religious types. Circles of protection will keep these horrors at bay.


Many cults across the history of mankind have had dealings with the Children of Tekeli and the monsters could be encountered anywhere. In the past the race has had several incidents of activity in the Black Forrest of Germany during the 'Thirty Year War' and have had connections to many of the witch cults of the area. 

The Children also have incredibly complex Earthworks in the New Amsterdam colony in the New World and have have several under Earth tribal warfare incidents with Drow, Elves, and Ghouls in the New England area as well. Several skirmishes with other legendary New England monsters has also happened. These affairs have become a part of occult myth and legend. 

Artifacts & Magick  of the Children of  Tekeli 

For Your Old School Campaigns 

The Children of Tekeli make extensive use of the schools of necromancy, summoning, and many other of the blackest arts of magick and dark occult power.
Rods of summoning often will have the 'contact other plane' spell bound into them. Wizards who have gotten a hold of these items have often found them to be very dangerous indeed. Demons, devils and insane things from Outside our mundane world are often summoned. Usually such items have eight or more charges roll a 1d8 to see how many charges remain.



The Children of Tekeli have extensive tunnels systems that blanket the Earth and have access to several technologies of the Great Race of Yith as well. This includes devices for traveling to alternative dimensions and different planes of existence. There are several Prime material planes where the Children of Tekeli have come to rule the world as their numbers have grown to invasion force size and they have swarmed across the planet. These individuals often use unusual energy weapons that do 3d6 points of damage with a range of some 30 feet, they can be used one handed and have about 8 shots before needing the energy cells replaced.
The Children of Tekeli have extensive colonies surrounding several Antarctica islands hidden within satellite blind spots up to the present day. These colonies were active through the early Seventies and may have served as a landing point for the alien allies of the Child. There is speculation that these alien allies may be servants of the soul of the Outer Gods Nyarlathotep and have aided the various tribes of the Children for more then four thousand years. There have been reports of a hybrid servant race which passes among mankind unseen. These individuals gain +3 to intelligence -1 on wisdom, and have an almost animal like cunning, they often serve as assassins,scouts or spies for the Children. These hybrid spies may be found anywhere across the face of Creation and report back to their masters from time to time as needed.
The Children it is known also operate in several alternative worlds including far into the future after several post apocalyptic events. There is even evidence to suggest that these horrors operate far into the future when Earth's sun has expanded and has turned into a red dying star. But there is rumor that this is only mere speculation.

Several orders of knights and crusaders have made it their life's work to eradicate the Children of Tekeki but so far their efforts have been all for naught. 

Marshes & Underground Area d100 Encounter Tables From Tales of Aeril Blog For Your Old School Campaigns

Swamps are a nasty area for adventurers to get caught in, while poking around OSR today I stumbled upon a series of D100 encounter characters that Reece PC has done. I've been looking for resources like this for a very long time. They're culled from a number of old school sources and very well done.

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All of the old favorites are there including swamp gas,giant spiders, undead,and any number of horrors. Very well done stuff. His underground d100 list is pretty damn amazing. The thing draws from a number of sources and creates an underworld of pretty terrifying nastiness for adventurers to encounter. Most of the material is drawn from a number of OD&D and AD&D first edition sources making this one of the most useful encounter charts I've seen in a long while. Special thanks to Tankar over at the OSR today blog for bring these to my attention HERE
And the Tales of Aeril blog for doing this wonderful series of solid series of encounter tables. 

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Free OSR Resource - DC1 Tales From the Laughing Dragon A Dragon Claws Adventure For Your Old School Campaigns

There are adventures that require more then mere skill with a weapon and a bit more investigation as well as ideas on the PC's part. Tales From The Laughing Dragon : A Dragon Claw Adventure. 

DC1 is the kind of adventure that while location based all revolve around the back setting of bars. If your expecting the usual hack and slash OD&D bits your in for a bad time with your PC's. 

DC1 is one part dungeon crawl, one part interlinked adventures and one part thinking man's dungeon adventure all in one slick thirty four page package of OSR goodness. 

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The plot sounds like a typical D&D style basic adventure but there's where the similiarity ends.
According to the basic plot which goes something like this :

Fonkin the beloved gnome sage is missing. The town guard is busy fighting off brigands and doesn't have time to look for him. A group of aspiring adventurers take on the task and follow a clue that leads them to an old ruin and footsteps leading down some stairs to the darkness below...

Tales from The Laughing Dragon: A Dragonclaw Campaign is a short three-part adventure series for the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game. It's designed for a group of beginning player characters, making it a great way to jump in to the Basic Fantasy RPG!

This is a thirty four page mini campaign adventure that is part basic introduction and part mission oriented adventure with some interesting twists on the usual OSR campaign adventure. What you've got here is a thinking man's adventure that is perfectly suited to throw the PC's into the deep end of the pond. Here the characters are recruited by some patrons in a series of interlinked adventures but there's also another interesting twist on the usual themes. This adventure has the sub heading of a Dragon Claw Adventure. The Dragon Claw Barony is the setting backdrop for this adventure and I think we're going to be seeing a lot more campaign material for this back bone of this campaign in future Basic Fantasy rpg edition adventures. From the adventure: 

/Dragonclaw Barony is a provincial yet rough and ready area, reminiscent of ancient England or Wales. The primary terrain of the Barony is rolling fields and gentle hills, though the Dragonclaw Mountains, from which the Barony takes its name, cut a wide swath through the center of the land. The borders of the barony are primarily comprised of natural features: the forests of Norwood, the northern Dragonclaw Mountains, and the Badlands in the north and west; and the Sea of Storms, the southern Dragonclaws, and the Dreadwood to the east and south. The Barony was once a small independent kingdom known as llancrest. Four hundred years ago, armies from the Kingdom of Albion, to the distant north, forcibly annexed the lands to serve as a southern base in their perennial wars with the eastern kingdom of Kar'Tegra. Llancrest was renamed as "Llancrest Barony" and a new ruler from Albion was given control of the land. Over the years, as the Barony grew more and more independent, the court at Albion began to refer to the distant frontier area as "that Dragonclaw barony", referring to the high mountain range that bisected the countryside; "Dragonclaw Barony" was eventually adopted as the official name of the land.'

And this is one of the things that makes DC1 a bit different, there is an element of the sword and sorcery going on in the backdrop. Things are a bit rougher and darker in this adventure then I was expecting and that's a good thing. The adventure is perfect for children but I can really see this being used as a motivator adventure for a beginning party or as a series of side adventures for an experienced party. Everything about DC1 is very nice and concise in what it does. It sets up the adventures and interlinks them with the Dragon Claw campaign world and setting but this is constantly running quietly in the background.  

The maps, ideas, and player handouts are all very nicely done and there's a really nice professional vibe running through DC1. But if your party is high on the combat end of things, expect a few possible TPK's in the works. All in all I think this is a free download worth your time and energy to get to know  Tales From The Laughing Dragon. Grab this one today! 

The Pay What You Want OSR Resource - Five Swords From Harbinger Games For Your Old School Campaigns

Five Swords From Harbinger Games is one of those supplements that fills a niche as a DM that you wish you have thought to have written. Its a damn useful little product with five magical blades. The title includes their history, powers, bits and pieces, all of the useful bits about the weapons and its all done up in a nice concise and well organized package from Harbinger Games. These are not power or munchkin blades, they have a specific set of powers and magical qualities but not enough to unbalance your old school campaigns

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Five Swords has a ton of uses from adding in several NPC magical blades and their history to creating brand new artifacts in the form of swords to add just that extra little bit of shine to that treasure hoard.
According to the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

  Five Swords is exactly what it sounds like - writeups of five enchanted swords suitable for use making a treasure hoard more sought after, or to make a villain more feared!.

  Five Swords has writeups for the holy sword Whitestaff, the thief's sword Stardust, and killer's sword Orphanmaker, plus two more.

On the surface this title does exactly what it says on the title but more then that the Five swords adds that little extra edge of magical sword goodness to an adventure but don't make these swords that easy to aquire during game play. Place these swords within dragon hoard, as part of collections belonging to vile villains or give these swords to NPC's who need a magic sword with an impressive set of minor and useful powers. And that's one of the things that separates this from other OSR products. These swords are actually damn useful for game play. They should be the cherry on top of any hoard's gathering of gold, gems, and silver pieces.
Because of the way that 'Five Swords' is written there is a ton of room to modify these items to your heart's content and allowing you as a DM to make and customize these swords as your own. There is a sense that these are magic swords that are meant to see use by your PC's.
That brings up the question of balance,Five Swords definitely has its collective eyes as a product to providing you with set of swords that can easily be modified to fit your needs as a DM. 

The items are very accurately described and are completely plug and play allowing a DM freedom to drop these swords right into an Advance Labryth Lord campaign, OSRIC, AD&D 1st Edition, or even an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign. The fact is that only one of these swords should appear within a campaign. Seriously these are swords that should only show up once every two years or so of game play. They're well balanced and written items with plenty of DYI editing room so you can sneak these swords right into the middle of your carefully aligned campaign with a ton adventure hooks built right into each item. 

All in all I think that this a download with your time and your attention as a DM. Go and gran this one today! 

Free OSR Adventure Location Resource - Adventures In High Wold By Corey Ryan Walden For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

So I'm planning on running a Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea one shot adventure soon but I need a town and fast, like Monday fast. So I started looking around and stumbled upon Adventures In High Wold. Not only is this a free town resource but it has everything your going to need for a party of adventurers to have a starting point, home base, and even the potential for some back yard adventures in this resource. Adventures In High Wold By Corey Ryan Walden has everything right out of the gate for a town setting for an D&D style old school campaign.

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It clocks in at eleven pages of sheers old school goodness with plenty of room to add, modify, and weave this town right into the background of your own campaign. 

So what's in the backdrop of this free town pdf?
Well according to Lulu:
This supplement is for any DM who needs a town, and needs a town fast! Designed to be compatible with any fantasy role-playing game system, Adventures In Highwold is the perfect starting point for any campaign. Includes two full colour maps, a table of random encounters, area descriptions, fearsome foes and numerous adventure seeds for exciting adventures ahead. Now I said that I was adding a backwater town setting to AS&SH how can this add in the details that are needed to really convey the sword and sorcery feel of this to Hyperborea. Well that's part of the charm of Adventures in High Wold. The author has spun this town into a perfect backdrop for your adventures, perhaps a mammoth or two as heavy farm animals, a few weird mounts in the backdrop and your ready to go. This resource is that useful and its only nine pages and it also includes some lovely and well done maps of the town,did I mention that all of the NPC's have really well thought out motives and desires to get involved with your PC's. Not all is well in High Wold and that's the perfect in for your PC's to get involved in the day to day goings on of the town. This product has a ton of potential for a party there are numerous hooks and dodges that allow a DM to lay the colour of their campaign set's on thick. And the town can take it. This is also a really nice backwater to stick into a game like Lamentations of the Flame Princess where a place of relative calm is needed to deal with some of the darker aspects. High Wold can act as bastion of light to the weirdness and high darkness of pulp adventures or so it seems. This makes a perfect jump off point for your PC's to spring into the high frontiers of adventure. Because of the very nature of this product its a perfect jump off point for a party and a nice place to end up back in. High Wold could well be a nice place to retire your adventurers to after dealing with the many threats and hazards that a world like Hyperborea has to off. But like all small towns this one has secrets and a few of them could get your adventurers killed. All in all this is a really nice starting point for any campaign and with High Wold along with its adventure elements this is a really nice place to add into your campaigns as a starting point and to expand from it. This product works very well with other OSR products and by combining them, you've easily got the start for a whole bunch of old school sword and sorcery adventures. My advice is to go grab this and start using it, today!

'The Pay What You' Want' OSR Adventure -HS1 The Lost Shrine of Sirona From Jeremy Reaban For Your Old School Campaigns

HS1 The Lost Shrine of Sirona From Jeremy Reaban is a really nice   'The Pay What You' Want' downloadable adventure that sets off to do something fairly simple and straight forward. It seeks to provide an evening's entertainment and do it well. This it succeeds in quite nicely and the module is 'pay what you want'

The module revels in its 'hack and slash' ethos and sometimes that's really all that's needed for a party of PC's.

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The text is concise, the maps pretty straight forward, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. This is a really nice mid point adventure and crawl with a location based adventure plot.
Here's the drivethrurpg blurb: 

Remember when adventures were mostly about going into a dungeon, killing monsters, and grabbing treasure? HS1 The Shrine of Sirona is the first (hopefully) in a line of small modules that focus on the somewhat neglected and usually disdained "hack & slash" style play.

HS1 The Shrine of Sirona details a small (10 room) dungeon shrine that was been invaded and occupied by monsters. It is intended for 5th to 7th level characters using the advanced first edition of the most popular fantasy role-playing game but should work with all modern simulacra, and armor class is provided in most ascending and descending formats.

My advice with this adventure is to use it for an experienced party as mid range plot point crawl and hook for your campaign against the forces of darkness. It can provide a jump point for the events and ideas of what's happening in your OSR campaign or use it as a beginning stepping stone into greater things.
Or this adventure could simply be an evening's entertainment for a party of experienced PC's.
The module is only six pages long but don't let that fool you, there are some monsters and things that could easily end your PC's quite easily. This module could be adapted to your OD&D games or retroclones but your going to have to gut the monsters and use the locations.
With a game with pulp roots such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. There is going to have to be level adjustments for the encounters and the monsters will have to be ported over but because of the way combat and the rest of the setting works this is a nice mid point pulp filled bridge gap action adventure style game night run.
This is a nice hack and slash adventure with plenty of room for DYI improvisation by a DM for fitting it into they're campaigns. Because is statted out for AD&D 1st edition. This is a perfect jump point for an OSRIC game or some 1st edition style retro clone system as well.
Using the adventure should be a nice and clear experience for a veteran DM and a nice up switch for someone who wants a fast, concise, and well thought out 'hack and slash' style game.
Clocking out at five pages this module provides a nice bit of violence and good old fashioned 'kill the monsters or PC's fun' with a bit of a nice up tick of a smattering of smartly written encounters, rooms, and more. 

Free OSR Adventure - Tomb of the Mummy Priest By by MedievalMan For The Basic Role Playing System

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Yesterday I wrote about The Catacombs of Death for the Basic D&D companion rules, a very high level and well done adventure with some in peusdo Egyptian setting. Now while looking through the Basic Fantasy rpg site I happened across a very interesting seven page adventure with another sword and sorcery over arch. The Tomb of The Mummy Priest is perfect low level adventure with some Lovecraftian overtones making it a welcome addition to a DM's table who is looking to run something well crafted, interesting, and potentially well done stepping stone for a campaign setting.
The plot is like something found right out of an old Universal or Hammer movie. This is a down and dirty D&D desert romp with all of the trimmings.
The plot goes something like this:
A desperate bandit uses the blood of innocent villagers to revive a long dead God but is now close to awakening something else instead. Now some adventurers are heading to the tomb to investigate it. Will they be surprised by something better left dead?
Darkness, death, depravity in the deserts of an adventure that can easily be placed right into the back yard of Stygia or another Conan style setting as easily as you can wave a sword at. This adventure is only seven pages but in those seven all of the major high points are hit.
This could be used as a nice adventure for an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system adventure with a little modification. This adventure could be set in one of deserts of Hyperborea and used to introduce some of the PC's into deep desert locations within the game. Given the 'Old Earth' back history to that game this adventure is almost a natural fit. Most of the major monsters in this adventure are in the AS&SH rule books and referee books so its quite an easy conversion and almost straight across. The PC's could be easily sucked into a desert campaign with some dangerous overtones & add in some ghouls, cults, and other S&S elements and your well on your way to an AS&SH ancient Egyptian style campaign.
But back to the Tomb of the Mummy Priest adventure itself. The adventure is well worth your time. 

The set up is easy, the motive for the adventurers to get involved is very clear, and every thing flows nice and organically from the center of the material straight on to the table to the PC's. And there are clear cut reasons for this horror to take place but there are a few twists, just enough to make things very interesting.
I don't want to spoil the crawl in this one but if you've got a hankering for some sword, sandal, and sorcery action my advice is to grab this one and get playing. 

Free OSR Adventure From Dragon's Foot Catacombs of Death By For Expert-Companion Level D&D And Your Old School Retro Clone Systems

This is a sort of rare beast of a high level  adventure from Dragon's foot by author RC Pinnell because of the upper level of the PC's needed and the deadliness of the adventure.
The plot is something straight out of the pages of an old Dragon or Dungeon magazine in a good way, its got all of that hard core wilderness/ and dungeon action surrounding a nice plot of sword and sorcery action. But this one is an upper level crawl and lives up to its premise in spades. An old friend requires your help to rid themselves of a curse, but can you survive the Catacombs of Death. An Expert-Companion adventure for character levels 12-15.

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The author lays out the ground work for Catacombs of Death straight out of the gate.
This adventure is designed for characters at the upper range of the "Expert" levels of play--12 to 14. Players running demi-human types should have attained at least Attack Rank C, as provided in the Companion Manual of instructions, that their characters may be able to experience the adventure on a more or less equal footing with the human types.
This is not an open sand box style of adventure instead this is a carefully plotted adventure that follows PC's into the mid range of character development and the pit falls that go along with later life of such characters.
The encounters are a challenge for these characters and the adventure centers around several locations of very dangerous aspect and a rather nasty dungeon.
Action, NPC's, and plot are interwoven throughout the Catacombs of Death, the author making no secret of the lethality and challenge of its plot and story line. This isn't an adventure location but a set of interwoven plots in the style of the older adventures for Basic D&D and retroclone systems.
Think of this module in terms of the Expert module such as the Slave Lord series because there is a very similar vibe running throughout the adventure, a set of circumstances that will haunt the characters for years to come surrounding events already set into motion.
This is an adventure about old vendettas, ancient history, and hair trigger circumstance all putting the PC's at the center of its Egyptian style setting material.
There is a ton of new monsters, set pieces and more right between the pages of this one. It really is a well done but upper level adventure & used well can prepel characters into a whole other realm of character back story and development. But those playing this one are going to be changed forever by what happens out in the sands in the Catacombs of Death. Take a look and download this one

Using Catacombs Of Death
 For Your Old School Campaigns 
Using Catacombs of Death for your Old School Retroclones is going to require a bit more of a challenge because of the very nature of the module, this isn't a sandbox or kitchen sink adventure but one that requires some preparation and careful thought by the DM.
Because of the very nature of its story and plot a careful working by the DM is needed. A nice idea is to work the events from the back drop into the PC's career early into a campaign and then use Catacombs as a send off or mid range adventure for upper level characters.
That being said there are other ways of dealing with the circumstances surrounding the adventure.

Another idea is to have another high level  rival party hook up with the adventurers and one of their number set the plot and events of Catacombs of Death into motion. This adventure is interesting, complex, and full of adventure and surprises. There are a myriad of uses for it but for a game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea some real solid adjustments of level and a handful of solid conversion work needs to be done by the DM. The material will fit a such a game but it would require some work on the DM's part.
This is a module well worth the time, energy, and circumstance to take a look at and its very well done. For a free module is blurs the line once again between fan and pro. 

The 'Pay What You Want ' OSR Resource Magazine - Brave the Labyrinth - Issue #5 (PDF) From Small Niche Games

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'Brave  The Labyrinth' is one of those OSR zines with so many varied uses its not even funny. I admit I haven't kept up with the zine as much as I should. In point of fact I haven't kept up as much as I should with as many of Goblinoid Games as I'd like to. This is one hell of a nice little resource zine and of exceptional quality  with some great and varied content for the Labyrinth Lord game and 90% of the retroclones out on the market. This is a really packed piece of OSR gaming zine right here. 
But what's in this issue of awesomeness? According to the blurb from Drivethrurpg : 

Brave the Labyrinth is a quarterly fanzine published by Small Niche Games for the Labyrinth Lord™ roleplaying game community. It consists of fan-created material designed to cover all types of Labyrinth Lord™ and Advanced Edition Companion™ gaming.

In this Issue you get: 

-a new demon lord - This is a really nice variation on the lords of the Abyss and a good contribution to a region where you can really vary the enemies. 

-new elf variations - Yet more of these pointed eared PC favorites, these are always welcome and very nicely balanced. 

-an amazing map of Andrel Castle - Sold map of a very cool adventure location 

-sainted icons of the Church of Law and Order -Finally! Some very nice minions of the powers of Law! Very useful for my games. 

-tools, keys, and magic items for thieves - Thief themed items that tie directly into the class. Very nicely done. 

-three (3) new monsters - Monsters are always welcome and these are nicely balanced. 

-a green wizard who sought to cheat death - Very cool. 

-a review of the Caves of Ortok - A really nice overview of an adventure module that needs more spotlights on it. Hoping my players don't get a chance to read this overview because I so want to run it. 

-artwork contributions by by JV West and Jim Wampler- Really nice pieces of artwork and old school inspiration. 

All in all this to me is a really nice issue of Brave The Labyrinth and a pretty solid old school resource. There are several articles and entries here that tie directly into some of the campaigns I'm running. I think that this is well worth your time and energy to take a look into if your a DM with any interest in old school gaming. Small Niche games has consistently put out some quality products in the past and this is certainly among those in my opinion. Throw these folks a few gold pieces and get to using some great old school material. 

FREE OSR MODULE: THE HIDDEN TOMB OF SLAGOTH THE NECROMANCER” For Your Old School Campaigns

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This is a free system and edition neutral module from the paperspencils.com site, I stumbled upon this one while dealing with Goblin week on G +. Sort of like Shark Week only cooler because its by old school gamers and for old school gamers. Kidding its actually a really made up thing gamers do for each other as an exercise of imagination but I digress.
 This module came about as a cooperative effort between friends according to the website:

It started early this year when I stumbled on to the website of fellow D&D blogger, Stonewerks. Stonewerks primarily makes maps, and his work has heavily influenced the way I’ve drawn the Deadly Dungeons maps over the last few months. At the time, his newest post was “The Hidden Tomb of Slaggoth the Necromancer,” a map which caught my eye, both for its lovely design, and compelling description

This is a damn fine adventure and dungeon crawl that utilizes every little dirty trick in the book with some nasty old school dungeon crawl works as an adventure that the DM can really sink their teeth into.
The plot reads something like this:

“The long lost Tomb of the evil necromancer Slaggoth, is buried deep with in a cavern complex. The caves have become the home of a trio of ogres and their band of goblin henchmen. The goblins guard the entrance by watching through a small crack in the rock above the entrance, alerting the other goblins when anyone approaches the entrance. The goblins will then unleash a small pack of wolves that they have chained in the front caves against the intruders. If the wolves are not enough to repel the intruders, the goblins will send a runner across the wooden rope bridge to the ogre lair to warn their masters and will use ambush and retreat tactics to slow down the intruders. In the ogre cave is a massive steel door that leads to the hidden tome of the evil Necromancer Slaggoth.

This is fifteen pages of old school location based adventure mayhem with lots of little touches that gives this one that special little over the cliff edge. There are special descriptions of NPC's, a rumor table, lots of minor loot zones, a solid backing for the maps, fill ins and motives for the monsters, plenty of room for DYI dungeons and dragons DM customization and lots more. 

The module is concise, well thought out, and obviously a labor of love. The ideas and little details here like the broken ax in the skull all fire the imagination in oh so many ways. There's lots of high drama in this one as well right in the center of the adventure. The authors work very well together as the encounters are balanced enough to challenge and lethal enough to screw a party to the bone if their not careful. Team work and party cohesion are the watch words here especially in regards to survival and watching each others back with the Hidden Tomb. 

This is a nicely thought out mid level adventure that can be used as either side quest or as a mini campaign breaker for a well heeled or even a beginning party of adventurers. 

All thoughout reading this one I was chuckling over the throw down of the maps and monster's ecology. Very well though out placement and descriptions make this one a pleasure to read through. 

There is a metric ton that can be done with this module from mid range campaign placement to its use as a stand alone adventure. 

This module can be used over and over again because peppered throughout are campaign hooks that can be exploited by a clever DM to use as a jump off point for their own campaigns. 

My advice is to grab this one. Clever and weird adventures with a clearly pulp asthetic that can be used straight across ANY edition are rare but being free and of such quality is a very rare combination indeed. Grab and download this one folks. You won't be sorry. 

Free OSR Download For The Basic Fantasy Rpg System - Adventure Anthology 1 For Your Old School Campaigns

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Possibly one of the best anthologies for the OSR that I've seen, you've got everything in this adventure anthology that a DM could want. Everything from one shot adventures, plot hooks for over arching campaign events, and much more.
 If I have a session run short, or if I need to run a few one-shots while I prepare my next campaign, this is a great resource. This is perfect for the middle part of a campaign when the adventurers are leveling up and need a few side quests.Each of these adventures has everything pre packaged for your adventurers to challenge them for an evening's entertainment in the old school tradition.
According to the Amazon blurb:

This is the first Adventure Anthology Series multi-adventure module for the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game! Herein you will find a collection of small adventure modules, playable in a session or two, written by various authors. The adventures in this collection are in varied styles and are suitable for characters from first level to eighth.

This is a nice series of adventures that tie into each other and the motives of the NPC's are all mapped out and they actually have reasons for their interactions. That being said these adventures can be devided into nice bite sized play times.
Many of these adventures can easily be converted into a wide variety of retroclones or more modern versions of the world's most famous fantasy role playing game.
My advise on this anthology of adventure goodness, grab it and get playing tonight. A solid collection of old school retroclone goodness! 

Free OSR Resource From Raging Swan Press - Be Awesome At Dungeon Design For Your Old School Campaigns

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So I was touring around G+ today and discovered Raging Swan Press's Be Awesome At Dungeon Design, needless to say I was pretty damn skeptical at best. But I took a look through this fourteen page system agnostic tool box of DM advice and surprisingly this is a very handy little collection of advice for the care, feeding, and design of dungeons across the board.
The pdf has a nonsense approach to the subject and goes into detail about the philosophy and aesthetic of the designer/author's mind as well as the back drop material for the dungeon. The whole kit is set up with everything you need to get started from start to finish with regards to how 'adventure location' of the dungeon is designed.
This isn't done with stats or an rpg table top system in mind but the ideals of the author's approach to the subject of dungeons in a common sense way and series of ideals for the incarnation of the whole affair of the dungeon as adventure and story element.
Let me say that I'm not a Pathfinder player or DM, and I'm not getting into the mega mountain of their products but this is a book I didn't regret downloading. I'm not taking away from Pathfinder, if you like the game then fantastic and more power to you.
But this is a book that has lots to offer for dungeon design, subject that is at the heart and soul of whatever edition you happen to play. 

From the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

Any GM can design a basic dungeon. A dedicated GM takes the extra time to craft exciting, logical and challenging dungeons that are so much more than a series of rooms stuffed full of monsters and treasure. Be Awesome At Dungeon Design comprises eight dungeon design essays by ENnie Award winning designer Creighton Broadhurst.  Handling such subjects as a dungeon’s purpose, design, ecology, dressing and physicality Be Awesome At Dungeon Design also includes essays on alternate dungeons and the principles of megadungeon design.

Whether you are a new GM just starting out, or a grizzled veteran, there’s something for you in Be Awesome at Dungeon Design.

This product is a Dual Format PDF. The downloadable ZIP file contains two versions, one optimised for printing and use on a normal computer and one optimised for use on a mobile device such as an iPad

Why You Should Take My Advice

In short, I've been around the block.

I've been on both sides of the designer/publisher fence. In 1999, I started out as a hungry, wildly inexperienced and tremendously naive freelancer. Now, I'm a grizzled (nay veteran) publisher and editor who has written, edited and developed well in excess of 1,000,000 words of gaming content. I've written for big and small publishers alike and won an ENnie for Madness at Gardmore Abbey (2012 [Silver], Best Adventure). A partial list of my design credits includes: Wizards of the Coast (Monster Manual V, Exemplars of Evil, Madness at Gardmore Abbey), Paizo Publishing (Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine), Expeditious Retreat Press (Legacy of Darkness, Plague), Kobold Press (Deep Magic), Rite Pubishing (Pathways magazine, Adventure Quarterly) and Raging Swan Press (Retribution, Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands, The Sunken Pyramid).

During my early freelance days I was very lucky to have a mentor of sorts. Stephen Radney-MacFarland at the time was the RPGA's Big Cheese and my Living Greyhawk boss. During the course of the campaign, he gave me countless pointers and pieces of advice on how to commission, edit and develop modules. He gave me tremendous insights into the design process both in the campaign and at Wizards of the Coasts. (Luckily, he also didn't strangle me despite serious provocation on several occasion). During my time on the campaign I worked on over 100 modules and wrote another 20 or so myself. I had a lot of time to practise his suggestions.

In 2010, I founded Raging Swan Press and have built it into one of the most successful, prolific and recognised publishers of Pathfinder compatible products in the multiverse. I've worked closely with dozens of freelancers and to date (November 2013), have released over 160 supplements, adventures and player aids.

I want to share with you the insights and advice I've received over the years. I was lucky enough to have a mentor, but you might not.

Look I'm not caring if the author has published  a billion products but I do care about what is going to go into the design of the dungeon that is the center of tonight's game. The heart and soul of old school games is one the adventure and two the dungeon or other focus of your D&D party. The dungeon is a very important lynch pin in the history and backdrop of a campaign and this book provides a wealth of ideas,advice, and more for any DM. The author knows the material and knows how to tailor his advice to his audience but never talks down to the reader. A key point for getting me to read more of your products as well as move ahead with using this free product. Unlike other materials that I've run across as supposedly free this one doesn't skip on quality or key pieces of actually useful advice.
There is a whole swath of notes, pieces of useful twists and turns of facts and opinions that make sense. Much of this material can be used for not only adventure setting material but also the design of other rpg locations.
All in all I was surprised and delighted to read through Be Awesome At Dungeon Design.

Raging Swan Press is a nice addition to the growing plethora of OSR material that I own. I'm very happy to have downloaded this one ahead of the snow storm of 2015 and happy to have yet another piece of gaming related material that adds to the tool box that continues to bring my players back to the table again and again. Grab this one and because its free I must say its a nice piece of DMing advice that actually says what it does. 

Free OSR Mega Download - The Basic Fantasy Field Guide From The Basic Fantasy Rpg For Your Old School Campaigns

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This is an eighty four page  monster manual for The Basic Fantasy Rpg packed to the brim with monsters and is perfect for any OD&D style campaign. There's a huge number of familiar faces but there's a totally whole different way of dealing with these monsters. The book takes a nonsense approach to it's creatures, everything here is geared for maximum adventure potential, there are over one  hundred eighty creatures with a full array of original and public domain artwork, and its well organized.
A DM can't ever have enough monsters. These are both the benign and darkly dangerous for the health of adventurers. They can easily be slipped into a wide variety of OSR adventures at the drop of a hat.
These are the creatures that your going to want to populate your OD&D style dungeons with. The monsters are very well done in the old school tradition with plenty of new variations to keep it punched up and fresh as well as deadly.

So what's in this book? According to Drivethrurpg:

Need a few more monsters? You've come to the right place! This tome contains over 180 creatures for use with the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game. From ordinary animals to extra dimensional intruders, this book contains something for almost any game!

Challenge your players with alien Eelbats or deadly Clockwork Skeletons. Populate your wildernesses with stalwart Chelonians or the wily Rabbit Prince. Perhaps the next tomb your players raid will house a powerful Bone Horror! These and many more weird, wonderful, and wicked creatures lurk within this book.

There's been a ton of work put into the monsters in  this book and the Basic Fantasy authors & contributors know their material. There are quite a few surprises slipped into the back door  of this free download. The problem and issue with monsters is really one of expansion, there are always always room for that one special creature that you as a DM need. This book has quite a few creatures to fill in that special niche.
The monsters here are wide ranging, interesting, dangerous deadly, and don't simply conform to the usual OD&D tropes all of the time. The authors have done a nice job of mixing it up to give a DM a real variety of creatures.
When a DM has a huge sprawling ruin to populate with monsters this is really a great book to grab. This really is a no nonsense game book that highlights, hits all of the monster high points, and gives all of the best stat blocks at a glance. I can honestly recommend this book without reservation as yet another great Basic Fantasy rpg line book with a full dance card of all of the living dangers for your dungeons and adventures Did I mention that it was free?

Soul Forged Armor For The Basic Fantasy Role Playing or Your Old School Campaigns

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There are times when a DM needs something a bit more well special then the usual 'magic sword' that we get in OD&D and basic.I stumbled across this particular take on the magic sword the other night.
According to the PDF : 

Soul Forged Armor is armor that has been infused with the soul of a warrior or paladin. It is usually created for a specific purpose. That purpose can be good, or evil. It can be specific (eg. A Soul Forged Lich Slayer would be created for the express purpose of slaying Liches), or it can be more general (Soul Forged Armor of Chaotic Good). It can be forged for a specific group within a game world. Often, an order of Holy Warriors will choose one of their greatest, and have his soul forged into armor so that he can be called upon in time of dire need.
This idea is simply the bare bones of a very cool idea that can easily be fleshed out in a game such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea as a type of lost magical artifact that while powerful cares with it an air of the sinister and more then slightly weird.
Its really only two page pdf with some interesting and very respectable high ideas that adds a bit more flare to the idea of the magic sword which is already steeped in real world myth and legend.
Its always the little touches such as these that bring home the classic tropes of old school sword and sorcery. With a bit of conversion this article can serve as a nice set of old school mythological guidelines to create an other aspect of the dark fantastic for your old school D&D game. Not too shabby a free download at all that infused with a sword and sorcery classic piece of gaming meta mythology.

Free OSR Adventure - The Tavern Of Daednu By The Oliver Brothers For Your Old School Campaigns

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Everything about the Tavern of Daednu is well done and very interesting. This is a small twenty page module that is big on encounters and if done well could well be a first rate horror style introduction adventure. The module paces itself well and solid.
With a bit of work this module could be adapted into a solid location adventure into your old school campaigns. Everything about this module screams add me into your game. Since this is an AD&D 1st edition module, you can easily add it right in. The plot and NPC's here are very generic but with a few clever twists this module can be a party's introduction into the darkness that lays at the heart of your horror or weird sword and sorcery campaign.

According to the Dragon's foot intro: 

The Tavern of Daednu seems a pleasant place for adventurers to spend the night, but all is not as it seems. A short adventure for character levels 1-3.
According to the adventure the structure for the module is laid right out in the open from the  introduction: 

"The Tavern of Daednu is a short

adventure for 3-8 characters of 1st-3rd

level. The scenario works best with

characters of low level who are veteran

players. They will of course be suspicious."

Don't let this fool you as a DM, with a bit of work this module could make a fine introduction adventure for a Lamentations of The Flame Princess game or a even a game of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The weird adventure elements here are compelling enough to keep PC's interested and busy from the ground up.
The adventure reminds me of Solomon Kane and some of the older Weird Tale influences here and I like the feel that I got from this one reading through it a few times. 

There are two levels to the inn and with a bit of clever slight of hand this adventure location can be used over and over. The writing here is interesting, the plot can be reused a couple of times, and personally I think that  the PC's should escape with their lives with this one. Only to have the place show up again later on in their adventuring careers. This is the sort of adventure location where adventurers should cut their teeth and be thrust into the darkness only to escape knowing that its waiting for them.
Grab this adventure, twist it around, and drop it into your campaign for a sword and sorcery twist on the usual basic AD&D game module.