OSR News Roundup for April 7th, 2025

I was out of town last week for a short spring break trip, so there wasn't a news roundup last week. I'm going to do my best to encapsulate both in this Roundup, but we'll see how we do. Every once in a while I plug a release in the introduction, for one reason or another. This week, I'd like to give a special shout-out to Gurbintroll (nee Blacky the Blackball) and the newly released 4th edition of their Rules Cyclopedia clone Dark Dungeons. Years ago, Dark Dungeons was the game that brought me into the OSR after a long hiatus and then jumping back into 3rd edition with my stepson. The 4th edition is a fantastic re-imagining and interpretation of the Rules Cyclopedia, and I encourage everyone to download and read this game as soon as possible; the pdf is free and is a hefty 475 pages.

• I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the Cairn Monster Cards before, but if not, here you go. You can get a file of 145 illustrated and printable monster cards statted for Cairn, designed to be folded and used in a standard card sleeve. This is a really cool project.

• If you're looking for an easy way to dip your toes into game design, or have a spark of an idea you'd like to get down on paper, the SAGAS TTRPG 1-page game jam is still accepting applicants. It's pretty broad and open-ended; the only requirements are that it be one page and use the SAGAS game system.

• Issue 2 of Print it Yourself is now out on itch. It's a cool zine about, well, the physical process of making zines. I really like this (especially with all of the tariff news throwing a huge wrench into a lot of current projects) because I think it is an aspect of the indie community that isn't much discussed; there's plenty of stuff on game design, and mechanics, but not that much on actually making the physical product.

• Written for Old School Essentials, The Orc is a playable character class for it and similar BX-style games.

• I haven't had a chance to dive into it but The Madder Hag is an interesting looking zine that tackles BX-style gaming, with what looks to be a ton of content. Issue Five, all about fighters, is out now.

• I always like being able to promote first-time authors: Nick Campbell is coming out of the gate strong with several adventures, the first of which is D1 -- Escaping Bunsunin. This is a 0-level, gauntlet-style adventure written for Shadowdark, and is followed by several other adventures in the series.

• Red Ruin Publishing has been putting out an amazing amount of fan content for Dragon Warriors, and they've just released an 80-page, PWYW solo adventure for that system.

• I'm not familiar with the work of Storm Fetish Productions, but they've just released Brink of Calamity, a 180-page adventure written for OSRIC and similar systems.

• Crawling North, Vol. 2 is now out. This is a zine written for DCC with a special focus on Norse-style settings.

• I don't know if any readers are fans of the historical war game Bolt Action, but Sabre Games is currently auctioning off a painted German army on ebay.