Review & Commentary On Guns of War From Autarch For Adventurer,Conqueror,King Rpg System, Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg, & Your Old School Campaigns

So I've been gone a good portion of the day & how this review came about is a bit tangled. I've been rummaging around the a great many Adventurer, Conqueror, King titles for the better of a year now. Yes, I have friends of mine who feed my OSR habit quite regularly & I've been off the ranch for a long time now. This means I review what I want when I want as well as how I want. Still there are titles that I don't have access to so I hit up Alexander Macris with an email. Well the gentleman is a very busy guy and all, so I don't like bothering him. At least that's what I thought.
Wham two nights later I had a bunch of titles from the ACK's line up sitting in my inbox!? Among them was 'Guns of War', yeah great another 'fire arms' set of rules rattled through my head at about two A.M. Then I was zipping through G+ & came across this Lamentations of the Flame Princess play through.
Wait?! There's a whole supplement on black powder weaponry that could be used with both ACK's & Lamentations?  Given my obsession of  wheel lock weaponry & my love of all things Lamentations colour me interested folks.


So what does 'Guns of War' bring to the table? Well its a supplement that brings the timeline for ACK's up to the age of black powder weaponry not simply for the humans but most of the major races of the Adventurer,Conqueror, King & Lamentations of the Flame Princess. This adds an entirely new dimension to these OSR games themselves. This brings that setting dynamic into a new light entirely.

"Guns of War brings you all the rules you need to add the gunpowder, firearms, and artillery of the Age of Pike and Shot into your fantasy role-playing game. This century-and-a-half period was an age of war more terrible than any that had come before, as the technology of battle changed more rapidly than it had in any time in the preceding 3,500 years of human history. It was also an age of apparent anachronism made real, as plate-clad knights battled rifle-armed soldiery, field artillery fired on pikeman, and swords hung alongside pistols on the belts of cavalry.

Guns of War is designed for use with Autarch’s Domains at War (D@W) rules for military campaigns and battles. You will also need a copy of Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS), Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LOFTP), or a similar D20-based fantasy role-playing game to use this book."

But is it worth getting into? Well from a dollar stand point my answer is 'yes' it adds whole new aesthetic to these games and it could be used with Dark Albion as well because its going to change events across the board in broad gun powder clouded strokes. The age of powder & shot becomes an entirely new set of dynamics & history stalking changes to the set up of games. This means that the material has a has a vaguely 13th-15th century feel to it in equal measure. Guns of War manages to do all of this in fifty eight pages of jammed black powder packed book. Does this really make a difference in the dungeon? Not really when your wearing twelve hand grenades packed with black powder called the 'twelve apostles'. Because your going to be facing down things like this Ifreet  in some God forsaken megadungeon.


Guns of War does the job of taking ACK's from the dungeon into other realms of adventure into things like the a fantasy age of piracy, full on full city siege warfare with cannons, mixing up with the forces of darkness with powder, and much more. I make this book sound like one of the essentials for ACK's don't I? Well that's because technically in my estimation it is!
When you have chain mail clad warriors fighting with pistols & swords then you've got a different mix of a game setting happening.

Guns of War presents its material concise and well laid out details with the rules, tables, & descriptions being very easy to read as well as the content  presented in a way that's easy on the eyes. The artwork is public domain with an eye towards the real world history whist keeping the book grounded in the ACK's setting (sort of). Because it moves the technological time table up there is a sense that Guns of War has at its core the OSR with an eye towards taking systems to the next level or at the very least the next time period. This book has lots of potential because of its use in ACKS Domains at War but that's a blog entry for another time. What it also means is that I can now run Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg materials within the ACK's system quite well. Things are not seamless but they work quite well so that suddenly that mini wall of Lamentations of the Flame Princes books has lots of potential in the ACK's system. This is another mark of the ulitity of the ACK's material at the gaming table. All in all I really enjoyed Guns of War so much so that I called the print shop today to get myself a copy of this pdf spiral bound. I give it four out of five because not only was I pleasantly surprised by Guns of War.

GRAB  'Guns of War' From
Autarch Right HERE

Review & Commentary On The Adventurer Conqueror King System: Player's Companion By Alexander Macris

Yeah, I've been around the table top rpg hobby for a long while now at forty seven years old & I've seen my fair share of 'character guides' & companions. But then Adventurer, Conqueror, King shows up with its B/X leanings, proficiency system, and customization factor then more. So there are always books that are touted as essential out in the table top market but then you've got the Player's Companion for the Adventurer Conqueror King RPG. So what the hell is so essential in this book? Right off the top it features:"
16 new character classes to expand your  campaigns, including the anti-paladin, barbarian, dwarven fury, dwarven machinist, dwarven delver, elven courtier, elven enchanter, elven ranger, gnomish trickster, mystic, paladin, shaman, Thrassian gladiator, warlock, witch, and Zaharan ruinguard." One of the strengths of ACK's is how the PC classes fold into the campaign setting material.



 Everything in the sixteen new character classes ties in with the Auran Empire material and the implied setting set up from the character section of the main Adventuerer,Conqueror, King rpg rule book. This is a round about way of insuring the dungeon master & his players are going to be engaged in the world setting of the book but with enough room for customization. This is one of the differences between a second tier & generation OSR product or  more 'modern' rpg systems. The amount of crunch helps to keep things wide open for player choice.  This trickles down into the '238 character generation templates with pre-selected proficiencies, spells, and equipment options to create archetypes such as the Aristocrat Bard, Buccaneer Thief, Gladiator Fighter, or Runecaster Shaman' These PC materials wrap character creation into essentially a kit like structure that actually works similar too but distinct from the old Skills & Powers second edition set up.You choose one of the "archtypes" to cut down on character preparation time to get up & playing as soon as possible.
This section actually works & ties back into the Antiquity style of the Auran Empire. But it can be just as easily used with a straight up Sword & Sorcery style campaign setting of one's own design. Even magic system which adds new spells can easily be ported over to a sword & sorcery setting especially with dweomers such as dismember, earth's teeth, and trance, as well as ritual spells including cataclysm, plague, temporal stasis, and undead legion.


Do you have a favorite OSR PC class? Well there's a really nice DYI character customize class built section too. And additional domain rules that tie back into both the existing ACK's rules book & the Player's Companion;"A point-based customized class system that lets you create the perfect blend of fighting, thievery, divine, and magical power. The custom class creation rules are 100% backwards compatible with every class in the ACKS core rules and all of the classes in the Player's Companion." Once again there's more justification for dungeons & adventure locations to exist as the NPC can and will grow along with their PC counterparts;"Additional equipment and proficiencies to provide options for character classes new and old, plus prices for building traps to defend your stronghold".


There is an an emphasis on the political and kingdom building aspects as intended right from the main ACK's rule book which continues straight though the The Adventurer Conqueror King System: Player's Companion. This is something  that makes it useful for the creation of both PC's & NPC's a welcome change of pace from many other rule books. All in all this well rounded approach to ACK's by the Player's Companion makes this one of the essential ACK's purchases. Its well put together, has a no nonsense approach to its subject matter and the sheer volume of material makes The Adventurer, Conqueror, King:Player's Companion a must have for any player or ACK's dungeon master. Clocking in at about thirty five dollars the hard cover has some really nice value for the dollar.
You Can Purchase The Player's Companion In Hard Back Here

Essentially all you need to run a complete campaign is the ACK's rule book & the ACK's Player's Companion

The Adventurer Conqueror King System: Player's Companion is on my short list of books to get in hardback for 2016 at some point.

Review & Commentary On The Auran Empire Primer By Alexander Macris For The Adventurer, Conqueror, King RPG System

I went into the Auran Empire Primer with open eyes not expecting that much, this is the implied & now fully fleshed out OSR setting for the Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg system. The whole setting implies not so much the usual Sword & Sorcery of D&D but  Late Antiquity, around 250 - 750 AD."Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Middle East. " . This is the time period that saw the Roman Empire split in two, with the western half eventually dying while the eastern half of the empire continuing until 1453.Auran isn't the Roman Empire, there are some really interesting marked differences right off the bat. The fact that Auran is an empire with its cracks beginning to really taking its toll on many fronts means that there are lots of places for adventurers to make a difference. The setting is close to a Constantinople of the era of Antiquity in many respects including a reaming cross section of peoples, religions,and weirdness of a world on the edge. This is a place of forbidden black magic, the blackest magic that cracks peoples souls & beastmen capable of rending an empire in half.



This book presents in twenty five pages an overview of places, things, religions, cultures, and other elements that we've heard in other ACK's products such as ACKS Player's Companion, The Sinister Stone of Sakkara, &  Axioms digital magazine. That's pretty much only half of the material though.
What this book actually is a showcase of the elements from Adventurer, Conqueror, King & a kit for creating your own world if you want to look past the usual set pieces & system place holders which one finds in other OSR games. This system has a good grounding in real world as its inspiration & that to me seems to make a solid difference;"The ancient civilizations that precede the campaign’s era have realworld
cultural analogues as well. The ancient Argollëan elven civilization resembles a sort of Proto-Helleno-Celtic culture; imagine if the Danaans of Ancient Greece and the Danaans of Ancient Ireland
were actually the same people, part of a single, more advanced civilization. The ancient Thrassian civilization is inspired by Sumerian civilization with an Aztec aesthetic, while the subsequent Zaharan civilization is inspired by pre-Hellenistic Akkadian civilization with some Egyptian flavoring. The early Auran “Empyrean era” civilization draws on elements of the Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Sea Peoples, with extensive Heroic Age Greco-Roman (Illiad, Aeneid) inspirations."  This is a case of heavy is the head that wears the crown and that head just might be your PC, if their very lucky & the players might think outside the box. 


If your really lucky this just might be your character.

So what does the Auran Empire Primer bring to the table that's different then say Greyhawk or some other old school rpg setting book? Not much & that's fine with me! Let me explain here, the book presents a brief bite sized overview of the Auran world setting & it does it with a nice level of presentation along with some really well done artwork, cartography, and ideas. The overview is brief, to the point, and gives me exactly the level of detail that I want without overwhelming me with lots of filler BS that I don't need. In other words this is a place that I want to set adventures in.Its not a world that is so on fire that I as a DM don't have room or a elbow space to set up my own political or world events in. This is often one of the problems that I've had with other RPG products, the world events are happening right now! There's no time to get to know anything or do great deeds, your characters have to be heroes now! Well they do but in a system such as Adventurer, Conqueror, King they're going to need to build PC in roads into the world. This book helps to fill in the colour and setting material that you need.
Did I mention that the book sells for only two dollars and fifty cents? All in all I think that the Auran Empire Primer does a really killer job of presenting the world of the empire and its very well done product.

GRAB IT OVER HERE

Time To Dust Off Ancient & Accursed Terra With The Adventurer,Conqueror, King, Rpg With A Twist

The black season is upon Ancient Terra once more the shadows grow long & the monsters hunger from the shadows!


Beyond the demon haunted  Borea Winds there are other worlds such as Thule, Atlantis, and many other  places where the settlers from Old Earth came from thousands of years ago. This is a world of insanity, intrigue, monster haunted woods, and dungeons vast as well as deep inhabited by monsters. It was here that the battles of Ragnarok were fought & the gods died.

This is a world of terrible secrets, horrid legacies, vast ruin haunted plains. Man hides in his walled city states guarded by the forces of the Terra current & ancient technologies he hardly understands anymore.

"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

HP Lovecraft 'The Call of Cthulhu'


Ancient & accursed Terra is a world in need of heroes as the seasons of blackness engulf this world.  Lo did the wars of the serpent men & the K’n-yan peoples turned the land into a blasted waste. Many peoples were made strange & frightening by the energies unleashed by these two powers. But those days are long past and only now are men emerging from the darkness and the long silence that followed in the wake of the sinking of Atlantis,Mu, & places whose names have passed into legend. But their survivals even now plot to retake this world from the darkness beyond the poles where the Elder Things and the Great race once seeded the interior world.Mankind sends adventurers of its races into the dark places to plunder ancient ruins, learn the secrets of those who were once masters and to take the relics, artifacts, and treasures they left behind. 

And even what they  left behind is still guarded by monsters and sometimes far stranger things. The survivors & dangerous inhabitants of the civilizations of those who came before wait & plot in dark places for your blood. Not gun, nor magic, nor even the bravest hero can keep these at bay.
And that's where you come in! Just beyond the fire light something howls for your blood is your sword hand or spell  ready for that monster?

So what's the deal here? Well I've gotten approved for a local game shop for a campaign down in my home town. Since I've been itching for the better part of a year to run Adventurer, Conqueror, King. This is the perfect opportunity to use the Astonishing ACK's material that I've been seeing for the better part of three years. Now I've just the time, the full setting as well as the venue to try this wonderful old school retro system with! This world will also be using parts of other OSR material including Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
Are you interested in joining in an exciting, challenging sword & sorcery world with deadly monsters, incredible magic, weird relics, ancient technologies, webs of intrigue where you just might make your fortunes & leave your mark on history!

Welcome to Ancient & Accursed Terra An Astonishing ACK's setting!
Coming Soon!

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. H. P. Lovecraft
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_p_lovecraft.html

We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. H. P. Lovecraft
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_p_lovecraft.html

Judge's Guild Thoughts & Dave Arneson Appreciation Day Homage

So it's Dave Arneson appreciation day and to tell you the truth I've been pretty conflicted about putting fingers to keypad. Blackmoor means a lot to me and Mr.Arneson still to this day doesn't get the amount of recognition that he deserves. So here are some of my thoughts & opinions about this gentleman game designer and wargamer.

 

I'm trying to first think about when I heard about Dave Arneson. It was through Judge's Guild's Guide to the City State (1976), this was the real deal perhaps one of the greatest fantasy cities that came out or at least that's how it appeared to me when my father's friend from the RAF told me about it. Blackmoor came into my life in upstate New York from the Judge's Guild. I was six at the time and it was all about Kiss, Radio Shack, the Spiderman television show, etc.,etc. It wasn't until a year later that I played or watched my first game of original Dungeons & Dragons. I have very mixed emotions about this because its sort of like writing about something that has always been a part of my life. Arneson, Bledsaw, Gygax, were names that were as familiar to me as my uncles or cousins. Gary Gygax gave us Greyhawk but my hat has always hung in Blackmoor. I lost at least a dozen characters in Tegal Manor, two hundred and forty rooms of haunted house horror as a dungeon crawl. Areson gave my dungeon master the perfect setting to put this haunted hall of horror and gonzoness.


Its only recently that I've acquired a fine scan of this book and come to appreciate its brilliance at what it does. A tight, tense, and well put together urban setting with lots of potential and its been beloved by fans for years. Dave Arneson was very, very, good at what he did and was a damn good game designer way, way, ahead of his time in lots of ways. We lost Dave at sixty one back in 2009 & by God I wish I had taken the time to get to know the man more. I've written extensively about my debt to Judge's Guild but not Mr.Arneson. For me these games are not simply about wargaming or another game of D&D, these games instantly forge friendships between people that last twenty years or more. There's very little that can replace the feeling of getting together with friends and family slinging some dice and breaking the hold of an evil overlord, vile villain or slaying a monster. There are three things that come to mind when the name Dave Arneson is spoken ; one that's its alright to mix in science fantasy & fantasy elements together, two that play is key to the interaction of PC's and cooperation rules the day in parties of adventurers and the three the world of Blackmoor. A setting of free wheeling almost any can happen and probably will. I love the Blackmoor setting with its science fantasy roots and inclusion. The Temple of the Frog was and is a great adventure; it remains a favorite.


Personally I think that sixty one was way too soon of an age to be taken from us but we have little to say in such matters. I wish Dave Areson could have seen the rise of games such as Dungeon Crawl Classics and Lamentations of the Flame Princess as well as other clones that not only use but reveal in the gonzoness of play that he used so frequently. But alas all we have now are the memories, stories, and debt that we owe to Mr. Arneson. So I raise a glass to your memory sir and a life well played. May you find your place at the table of those who have passed and sling some dice with other greats. Thanks for all of the wonderful games and adventures, the halls of Blackmoor resound with your greatness and echo with your creation. Salute to you sir.

Review and Commentary On the Free OSR Horror Rpg Adventure - Come to Daddy For Your Old School Campaigns

I spent part of my day reading through one of the most brutal and well done free adventure I've seen in a while. Come to Daddy is written & mapped Anders Hedenbjörk Lager aka dawnrazor) and superbly illustrated by David Lewis Johnson and Jim Magnusson.If you are looking for an adventure that crosses over the bounds of Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg system turf and then backs up to finish the job then this is it. For those of you who don't think that an OD&D style game adventure can cross the same bleak and weird turf as the original Hills Have Eyes film. Think again. You haven't met the Rodbrok family, a more twisted group of mutant cannibals you are not likely to meet and they're very hungry. But there's more going on here.
Grab It Right Over HERE

The basic plot goes something like this:

In Come To Daddy, the characters end up in the clutches of a most evil family of crazy viking mutant cannibal killers and their weird monster creations in the middle of a frosty nowhere

The place is also haunted by the souls of some of their unfortunate victims and full of lethal traps for the unwary. And this is just the tip of the ice berg. There's some very dark and lethal stuff going on here at the home of these people. We're given a thumb nail view of every member of this twisted family and this adventure taps into the dark and lethal vein of the OSR with some surprisingly entertaining events.
This adventure has a wholly deeply disturbing Lovecraftian vibe echoing throughout it, we get a ton of new material in the form of monsters, spells, items, and more. But its the way that the adventure sets up the party and then proceeds to take apart piece by piece the flesh and marrow of the whole of any expectations. This adventure is perfectly aimed like an arrow at the heart of the OD&D or LoFP crew of players and it does an exceptional job of showcasing its old school horror ghastliness in the middle of the winter woodlands of your campaign. This material could be placed anywhere across the board in an ice choked part of your setting and world. This adventure is a mini campaign into itself that echoes such films from the 80's as 'The People Under The Stairs', the original Hills Have Eyes film, some of the dark slasher and jungle cannibal  films of the 70's, and 80's. And there's a ton of back material that's been included in this adventure to pad out, create squeals, and add a ton of Lovecraftian depth to the entire adventure combo pack. There's everything here to keep the horror of the place going for weeks. There's lots of fiddly bits and pieces to have at least three or four weeks worth of material to keep the party going. There are some notes on conversion between editions but given the depth and the way this is written this adventure makes a solid hit to take the PC's straight into Texas Chain Saw territory via the writing of HP Lovecraft in a pseudo historic setting of the DM's choice.
This is not an adventure for the faint of heart or the easily offended, there's blood, guts, and body horror galore. Not to spoil the surprises but this one is like the Manson Family Christmas special via a faux Viking picnic with death metal blaring in the background. The type of material that Ravenloft could hint about but couldn't show because the Satanic Panic button people would have been on the phones of the local television stations yesterday.
Now with all of that hype there's a few things to go over, the adventure is free but there is also a map pack and the free pdf. The map pack is not only necessary but perfectly well made to be able to support this horror laden mutant horror  ride from Hel. And believe you me its worth the download.
But is it playable? Yes with the right group of players this thing should be a blast and it could easily be used for a wide variety of retroclones. The top choice I would have to use this sucker with would be Lamentations of the Flame Princess given the wide array of blood,guts, & gore and then possibly Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. There are several reasons for the latter choice as well. Given the demented feel of the the Rodbrok family and some of the dark forces at work in this adventure. AS&SH is a good choice because of the bleak feel, weird atmosphere and over all horror of the adventure. There's lots of perspective for a very brutal adventure TPK for this adventure.
Believe it or not the module also has a very weird vibe that could be used with Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rpg system. The dark and robust nature lends itself to that game as well. But all of these retroclone systems would require a bit of effort to easily convert it over to your favorite retroclone of your choice. But is it worth the download? Hell yes it is, if your a horror rpg fan whose delicate sensibilities deviate to the dark side of the spectrum in a balls to the walls solidly done and decent horror adventure in the old school tradition then grab this adventure and get to playing! Five out of five with a solidly unnerving and darkly creepy adventure. 

Review & Commentary On Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #3 From Red Moon Medicine Show For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg System or Any Old School Campaign

Sometimes you can crawl into a game designer's head and get a glimpse at what's going on at their table with clues as to what direction their taking their campaigns. Vacant Ritual Assembly #3 is now available and its one of my favorite Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg fanzines out there. This is the zine that help me to loosen up with the  LoFP system  and take the game as it comes. The Red Moon Medicine show group of authors and designers headed by Clint Krause continues to impress me. There is an echoing them of down and dirty homegrown Lamentations horror in this issue and issue three echoes with it throughout.
Take one part Robert Howard's Beyond The Black River, mix in the fevered imagination of an obsessive LoFP fan, stir generously with 80's and 90's cinema swords and sorcery fantasy, mix in some dark material of the darkest magick , and perhaps you might get this issue of VRA. But I doubt it.
This issue reads like a temperate mix of Deliverance, Cannibal Ferox (1981), 
and Conan with a healthy dose of its own brand of insanity presented as a personal campaign setting.
Here's what you get for four dollars!

The Legend of Dragon Trench: Is the big adventure location for this issue and covers a wide gap of material including  Hex map, encounter table, rumors, NPC stats, site descriptions, and more. This is perhaps one of the best thought out bits of adventure campaign material and its a very dangerous area at that which will challenge and test adventurers to their limits.

Knights of the Dragon Clan - This knightly order are the guardians of the Dragon Trench and its environs. These are not the squeky clean paladins of OD&D but an order of adventurers,warriors, knights and survivors who are dealing with frontier life in a very dangerous world. Think Conan and company dealing with the Picts in Beyond The Black River with a LoFP twist, the Romans in ancient Britannia or the forces during the French and Indian wars in upstate New York. Life on the edge of a knife blade for your adventurers with death a hair's breath away.

The Thundercloud Druids - This is another faction with deep ties to the Dragon Trench rife with possibilities for adventurers. The Thunder Cloud Druids are the guardians of the Crystal Crater and masters of a twisted type of flute magick.
At night in the wilderness of this setting the head hunting witches of the  Tales of the Timberwives are detailed and these ladies are devious, dangerous, and wholly without mercy.
 The Grand Vespiary - This is one of the more unexpected adventures I've seen in an issue of VRA, it details a wasp cult that will leave adventurers changed forever or dead in equal measure. Its well done and very fiendish in what it does. And this is one of my favorite bits of the whole issue.
The final bit of this issue is Rick's Moving Castle an interview with the creator of the cult classic video game  Castle of the Winds  Rick Saada. A nice interview with one of video game classics masterminds and authors.
So far this is perhaps one of the most personal issues of the fanzine Clint Krause and we really get to see inside his head and his own personal campaign. This isn't a bad thing at all, we really get a sense of what's ticking off the boxes of the home game of the author and his crew at Red Moon Medicine Show.
And its an interesting glimpse into the creative process for one of LoFP's more dynamic fanzines in a community of gamers that continues to bring some of the best OSR material to the table.  This issue isn't for those looking for a simple set of hack and slash locations, these are adventure locations that could be used for many years to come in an LoFP or OD&D campaign.
But is all of this useful? Well, that really depends upon your personal taste in gaming. Personally I would say yes and buy this issue based solely on the strengths of the author's writing on his subject matter. Vacant Ritual Assembly each issue has threaded some very deep waters and this issue goes even further into a region that is rife for potential adventures. Personally I would break out my copy of Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad . 
This is exactly the sort of vibe that echoes through the Dragon Trench, a wilderness adventure location that is at once weird and dynamically different to take adventurers on a journey into the weird, pulptastic, and strangely different. That being said the locations that are detailed are easily used with other retroclone systems and that's part of the beauty of  Vacant Ritual Assembly issue three. There are so many things that can be done with this material and issue three is rife with old school gaming goodness potential. Do yourselves a favor, go and pick this issue up ASAP, its well done and well worth the money for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg system or any old school system for that matter!