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. 

Lands Beyond Kos (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword And Sorcery Campaigns

Lands Beyond Kos is the newest entry for the Swords of Kos Fantasy imprint from Skirmisher Publishing and for a fan of sword and sorcery role playing the timing couldn't be better. 
This is closer look at the big bright world beyond the Kos setting books, a sort of 'Ancient World' of mythology seen through a D&D style lens with over arching spins of adventure, fortune, and glory woven together with sword and sandal. Here adventure is always at the ready and your PC's are expected to be thrown into the deep end of legend and mythology itself. 
These are the lands of Hercules and  the heroes of old, erm not quite. See your PC's are the heroes and this book is a setting book of lands,details, all the little bits and pieces your DM is going to need to deal with what's over the horizon of the seas of the world of Kos. 

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This book details the lands and high areas of adventure in Kos. The book does it out in grand style and very easy to read bits and pieces with scattered adventure hooks provided through out but its a book with plenty of room for customization on the DM's part. The nice thing is the lack of system which means a DM can hang this world book right into the backdrop of their own campaign world and favorite system. 

So what's in it? Well according to the description from Drivethrurpg: 

As their adventures take them away from the shores of Kos, characters may increasingly visit other countries throughout the Mediterranean and the lands of Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond — and, the further afield they go, the more unfamiliar the customs and people of these places will be- come. This chapter contains detailed descriptions of 16 nations that characters from Kos might visit in the course of their adventures, or which themselves might be the homelands of some characters. Most of these lands in this extended adventuring area are located in the region of the eastern Mediterranean but a few lie further to the west and three lie somewhat outside the region altogether, along the shores of the Black Sea, in Mesopotamia, and in the European Alps, respectively. Most are at least as much under the control of Humans as of demihumans like Dwarves or humanoids like Hobgoblins.
Make no mistake, this isn't our world but an alternative world of fantasy, with lots of details and back drop for the Kos DM. But this book has a ton to offer a DM who wants to add this world to their sword and sorcery game. With a bit of work this world can easily become another piece of mythological or planar setting material just waiting for your D&D characters to explore. There is place after place just waiting for adventurers to put into port and go adventuring on the deep and dangerous twisting locations of Lands Beyond Kos.
This is a setting with a twist, this world came about by the events of 'The Great Cataclysm'  which sparked off the populations of fantasy races in Kos and makes a good back drop to add into a weird fantasy world backdrop. There's plenty of monsters and mayhem just waiting for a party, there are enough details here to get a DM headed straight into the world and connect it straight into an existing world or transport their adventurers into Kos's setting.
Look the pdf is a good value at only 3.99 for the amount of detail and work that your going to take a away from the setting. This setting is sword, sorcery, and mayhem with a flare for old school adventuring and there's lots to be had.
One last thing Lands Beyond Kos comes with a well done, and highly detailed map of the locals and locations spoken about within the product. For a pdf this is a really nice add on and one that I'm planning on having done out in heavy parchment style paper at a local printer to keep track of an upcoming campaign using this material.

Using The Lands Beyond Kos 
For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign 
There are several ways to use this setting book, and for me they involve taking the backbone of the book in nations, details, and entries of the campaign setting and adding it to my favorite retroclone say Labyrinth Lord or some retroclone system. This is a readily available system free plug and play world and its a post apocalyptic fantasy world at that. 

The proto mythological world of Kos and its Grecian roots the meat of the product can be plugged into a wide variety of fantasy setting variations from the larger then life legends of the 'Great Heroes', to battling the monsters and titans of sword and sorcery, to dealing with the everyday problems of living against the backdrop of this world. Kos has one other element to it, a very dark and seething underbelly of mythology and legend. There are reasons for this darkness and Kos has it in spades relating back to the 'Great Cataclysm' and the origins of its fantastic elements.
There is a ton to work with here and at its price there is more then enough nations,powers, NPC personas, and more that enough to keep a DM and his players busy for years to come. My recommendation is to grab Lands Beyond Kos and get to designing your own adventures within this expansive setting. There is also a ton of setting material support available for Kos. I highly recommend this book and to get in on the action. 

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. 

The 'Pay What You Like' OSR Resource - "100 Oddities for a Thieves' Guild" From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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Clint Staples and William T. Thrasher as well as the Skirmisher crew turn out another very interesting supplement on the 'pay what you want' scale. This one is really a must for any sword and sorcery DM. Seriously, this is one your not going to want to miss. Thieves guilds have been a staple of sword and sorcery ever since Fritz Leiber put type writer keys to paper back in the 40's. These organizations are the back bone of OD&D going back to when the thief class was first introduced and guilds have always been one of the most popular bits of adventures and PC's.
This book gives you that extra interesting edge when exploring items found in that safe house,ware house, guild hall, or other area where the guild's members have trodden with their ill gotten gains. This book puts odd right into the center of the guilds. This  book is filled with ten pages of high handed weirdness with items that can add that extra push into the zone of madness but its more then that.
This pdf proves the DM with a nice set of  items to encounter and add that special little bit of twisted humor and set dressing to use as a prime adventure hook. With a few tosses of the dice and suddenly you've filled that locker under the NPC's bed, the vault in the vile villains den, the chest out in the middle of that pox filled ruin, and so forth.

The lists here are brisk, weird, and original enough to include in my favorite sword and sorcery games, this makes this particular list extra nice for a game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hypborea where the thieves guild is such a part of the underworld of the setting but this isn't the only place in which that this list can be used.
The items are truly unique and interesting, and with a bit of imagination could be used for everything from a Call of Cthulhu cult's head quarters to a museum as well as the standard fantasy menu
The Skirmisher crew knows their material and this is another product where they've went out of their way to bring a sense of the original and strange into back drop of these lists. With a bit of work this list could be used to create a quick and dirty warehouse space in anything from ancient Rome to Cimmeria itself. Or it could be used in a more modern police warehouse sort of evidence catch basin for investigators to look for vital clues for a horror style investigation adventure.
Is this pdf worth your time? In a word in my opinion yes. Because it sets off to really add another layer of tools to a part of a DM's palette that's needed; the devil being in the details of what's found and what's used by a party. Not everything needs to be +4 sword of sharpness. Sometimes a smoking bottle of demonic essence left from a magical duel will draw your party deeper into the doorway of adventure. Basically this is a nice solid and vital piece of old school gaming goodness that your going to be using again and again to generate more treasures, adventure opportunities, loot, and most of all fun items that will have adventurers wandering down new and exciting pathways of adventure and plots involving the local thieves guild and its members. All in all this is an essential book for anyone wanting to add another layer to their DMing of a life of crime and making their PC's pay for it one odd random  item at a time. 

North Wind Adventures To Launch A New Kickstarter Featuring Three New Hyperborea Adventure Modules

Well for the past couple of months I've been quietly watching the progression of the artwork, look, and redefinition of  the new adventures for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg system. The three modules will be having their own Kickstarter soon and their as follows: 
Beneath the Comet™, Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess™, Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes™
The new look of the series really captures the comic book and magazine sword and sorcery source material from the 70's and 80's. 

The first title in the series is beneath the Comet and it looks pretty damn brilliant in my estimation. 
The plot is going to go something like this: 

For weeks the Comet has blazed in the sky above Hyperborea, inspiring widespread superstitious dread and fear of some star-borne contagion. Under the light of this harbinger from the Black Gulf, the PCs have come to Bogrest, following a magical treasure map that reveals great wealth buried in the Lonely Heath north of the village. Finding that treasure will be no simple matter, however, for Hyperborea is a weirder and deadlier place than ever beneath the Comet. 

Beneath the Comet is an adventure for from four to six characters of 6th through 9th level, for use with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ and other traditional fantasy role-playing games.

The one that really interests me is this one, the 'lost world' theme really captures some of the Robert Howard Conan 'Red Nails' theme quite nicely. 

Love,love, the cover art on this one as well 

I can easily see running this one at a convention or for a large group such as my buddy Peter's players. 

More than a month ago, your party found itself in Port Zangerios, where you heard of an Esquimaux thief selling a treasure map. Low on wealth but high in courage, you sought him out. The man turned out to be a fearful ex-slave who had “acquired” the map from his Ixian master. The map is incomplete but shews the Isle of the Serpent in far-off Lemuria, where rests a fabulous treasure called the Feathered Crown of Nanasa (or so thought the Ixian). Pooling your money to purchase the unfinished map, you bought passage on an Amazonian trade ship. After passing through tempests and torrential rains that shimmered with auroral light, you have come to the great city of Jhaman Ket. Now you must seek out the location of the Isle of the Serpent.

Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess is an adventure for from four to eight characters of 5th through 7th level, for use with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ and other traditional fantasy role-playing games.

The final adventure I've been following for months via the OD&D forums right over HERE  when it was first announced and keeping up with it on the new AS&SH forums HERE.

Many of the ideas in this one are straight out of the sword and sorcery adventures from the 30's and 40's, so my interests are peaked for this one. Not a bad premise for a module at all. 

Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains ofYmir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day.

Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes is an adventure for from four to six characters of 2nd through 4th level, for use with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ and other traditional fantasy role-playing games.

You can find out more about these modules on the new AS&SH website. Some damn fine resources are also their for the game as well. Right over HERE

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!