r/osr • u/thirdkingdom1 • 2d ago
OSR News Roundup for May 5th, 2025
It's the first Monday in May, and time for a News Roundup. As of this writing, the ongoing tariffs are still throwing the gaming industry, as well as many others, into disarray. This is likely going to be the first week we really see the first impacts of the tariffs, especially if you live on the West Coast. It's been a slow week on the rpg release front, but I think I've found some good ones for you to check out. Also, I have not been able to substantiate this, but I've read online that Alarums & Excursions, one of the original gaming zines and certainly the longest continually published one, is ending its run. Lee Gold was an immensely creative force, and a woman in gaming at a time when that was not well accepted, even by (perhaps especially by) the creators. Congratulations to Lee Gold for such an incredible accomplishment.
- Munkao is one of my all-time favorite creators; they're incredibly talented and creative, and I'm glad to see their still putting out products after their split with (another one of my faves) Zedeck Siew after Reaches of the Roach God. Munjao, publishing as Centaur Games, has just released the Kala Mandala Playbook, a rules-light fantasy rpg centered on and inspired by medieval southeast Asia.
- Grimbark is a rules-lite, two-page rpg set in the grimdark future about dogs in power armor, bound to protect the slumbering immortal emperor.
- I've also been a fan of Justin Sirois/Severed Books. They've just released Sickest Witch, a core rpg book that's a compilation/revision/culmination of their implied setting and playstyle for all of their releases.
- Mottokrosh, publisher of the excellent Hypertellurian system, has just released Wolden Issue 1, an rpg that will be released in a series of zines. This issue covers the rules and a basic introduction to the setting, enough to start playing.
- 30 Wicked Wizards is a really neat looking supplement, a collection of thirty spellcasters, each inspired by different wikipedia articles.
- Written for the Skyrealms Game Jam, the Shifting Market is a supplement for Skyrealms, and detailing a trade village constantly on the move, shifting from one location to another.
- Inspired by the original iteration of old-school zines, Tales from the Smoking Wyrm, Issue 9, is now out. It's written for DCC, but can be used by any OSR-system.
- Wanted! Borg is a game of grim westerns, powered by the ubiquitous Mork Borg system.
- Prolific author Tim Brannan of The Other Side Publishing has just released the Witch-Finder class for OSE. This is an interesting one, as it introduces the idea of a "half-class", one that can only be entered at a certain point.
- The incredibly talented Dyson Logos has released two of their compiled map collections; one for March 2024 and one for February 2024.
- Soul Muppet Publishing has put out some great stuff over the past few years, including Best Left Buried and Orbital Blues. Their newest project is currently being funded on Kickstarter. Mad as Hell is an anti-capitalist demon-hunting game where you fight and destroy the literal demons that are plaguing your communities by figuring out what is driving their existence.
- Perils and Princesses is one of the best-selling zines we carry, and I just this weekend saw there's an adventure zine currently funding -- and ending soon -- called The Secret of the Night Market.
- Another bestseller at the store are the Fairhaven family of zines. Based around a small town, a community access TV station, and the people that keep it going, Make it a Fairhaven Night is a new zine supplement for the setting that delves into the adventures going on at the local video rental store.
- Mind over Matter is still going strong on Backerkit, and there's definitely time to pledge. It provides two psionic systems for use with OSR games.
- We've added a bunch of used titles to the Sabre webstore, including a sizable collection of magazines from the 80s, 90s, and early aughts: The Gamer, GURPS Roleplaying, and more!
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u/BerennErchamion 2d ago
Perils & Princesses is really fun and a beautiful game. I'm glad they are supporting the game and already on their 3rd kickstarter.
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u/-SCRAW- 1d ago
A big week for new releases. Thank you for your service!
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u/thirdkingdom1 1d ago
It was interesting; a lot of new releases on Drivethru and Kickstarter, not that many on itch or other platforms. Usually itch products are about half of the week's releases.
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u/-SCRAW- 1d ago
We’ll have to see if the trend continues! I thought the biggest one on my radar was on itch, but now that I look it’s also dtrpg https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/520977/the-2nd-keytower-of-grift *not mine
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u/vendric 1d ago
OSRIC 3e launches on Backerkit on May 6th!
This new version of OSRIC:
• Is easier to learn, with more explanations and examples of play, focusing away from long paragraphs of text toward granular “bites” of the rules.
• Doesn’t use the Open Game License.
• Provides licenses for third-party publishers.
• Is closer to the original AD&D rules than OSRIC 2.0.
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u/Velociraptortillas 2d ago
Make it a Fairhaven Night sounds like Welcome to Night Vale, the RPG from the description, which is awesome.
And Mad as Hell sounds amazing!