Welcome to the second news roundup of March. My apologies to subscribers; I realized belatedly that I neglected to send out the newsletter last Monday. I had an immensely shitty day and it just got away from me.
I'm getting excited about the upcoming crowdfunding project I'll be launching in April for Mind Over Matter, a psionics book for Old School Essentials and other OSR games. In addition to a fairly traditional psionics system, albeit one divorced from point-based activation, it will also include an adaptation of the classic Book of Nine Swords from late in the 3.5-era. I've always liked the concepts presented in that book, and I've reworked the rules to fit in with an OSR mindset and power scaling.
Enough about me, though. The big news from last week that I'm sure many of you have heard already is that Drivethrurpg will be raising prices on certain print on demand products, chiefly softcover books, some of which will see a price increase of up to 70%! I don't know yet how this will affect POD books from other vendors, or offset books from other sources, but it has been my experience that prices almost never go down. I hope that people who are in the middle of crowdfunding campaigns aren't negatively affected by the upcoming pricing increases, and for everyone else, I guess now is the time to purchase those POD titles that have been sitting in your cart.
I've mentioned before my love of the games coming out of Latin America these days, and I was stoked to see that the LATAMjam 2025 is starting on March 12th. You don't have to be a LATAM creator to participate, so long as your entry uses a ruleset designed or released by an eligible publisher. The depth of creativity coming out of this community is truly astounding, and I'm excited to see what comes out of this game jam.
Matt Kelly has released Stormalong, a collection of seafaring adventures for Cairn, Into the Odd, and other systems, all based on American folktales.
Scouts and Scoundrels is a free, rules-lite rpg based on Cairn, with some super cute artwork.
I've mentioned Block, Dodge, Parry several times, and was excited to get the notification that the final version is out on itch. It's designed as an "advanced" companion to Cairn, and is available now for a lower price before it jumps up to the regular price. I've been following the development, and it's a really neat system in its own right, and in my opinion really brings a shine to the (fairly basic) Cairn.
Vesta Mandate is a neat-looking game of political intrigue in the future that is currently funding on Kickstarter.
Vaults of Vaarn has a soft spot in my heart, and I just saw that Ecophage is a newly released adventure for VoV, dealing with an escaped scientific experiment causing havoc.
I've mentioned before that Goblin Errands is one of Sabre's bestselling titles, and I just saw there's a similar (perhaps a bit darker) project funding on Kickstarter: Rob'n Goblin is a heist game which looks to be a bit of Honey Heist mixed with Goblin Errands mixed with the newly released Dawn of the Orcs (which we have in stock!)
Out of all the various Borgs, Pirate Borg is perhaps my favorite, and I just saw there's a newly release Ancient Mariner class available.
Back to Basix Issue 13 is now available on Drivethrurpg. It's a well-respected OSR zine, and in addition to new gaming content this issue also features an interview with Tracy Hickman.
Explore Dungeons have released Heroic Adventures #1, an adventure written for DCC revolving around a lich and its rule over a helpless town.
Attack the Light Issue #0 is the flagship offering of a new series of zines by Michael Putlack, written for Shadowdark. I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael several years ago for a project they launched for ZineMonth, and it's cool seeing them continuing to publish product (full disclosure, Michael currently works for the Arcane Library, publisher of Shadowdark).
I've mentioned before how much I like seeing a product that I've mentioned in the promotional stages make it to publication, and I just saw that Miami 86 is live on Drivethru. I mentioned it a few years back when it was funding; it's . . . a game set in Miami in the 80s. Not sure if I need to describe it more.
Populated Hexes Monthly 43 is now available in pdf, POD, and offset versions. It concludes the three part series on the Shadowlands, and finishes up with some playable classes, including one of my favorite, the dhampir.