Part of my goal this year now is to expand my game-playing a bit more beyond the realms of D&D and the clones.  But I am not venturing too far afield.  In fact, of late, I have been turning back to some old friends.

I have gotten these all in the mail over the last couple of days. 

Up first is an old favorite, Mage, in a new (to me) setting. Victorian Age Mage is based on the M20, Mage 20th Anniversary Edition, system/setting. I love Mage. I love the Victorian Age. So this one was a no-brainer for me when I saw it on DriveThruRPG's newest releases.

The book looks great, and maybe for the first time ever in Mage, I'll consider playing a character from the Technocracy!

I am also getting back into a really old favorite of mine, Chill 1st Edition via Cryptworld.

I picked up the two latest adventures from Yeti Spaghetti and Friends designed for Chill 1.0 and Cryptworld. Horror in Hopkinsville is good old-fashioned 50s UFO paranoid fun (or is it...) and The Blood Countess features a new take on the Other Side favorite Elizabeth Bathory. These do not have print options yet, I picked these up from Yeti Spaghetti directly.

The Fright Night Classics adventures are fun and would make for great NIGHT SHIFT or Dark Places & Demogorgons adventures too. 

Going through them reminded me how much I do love Chill. So I went back to look up some monsters. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I didn't have a copy in print of Monsters Macabre!

This one is from Goblinoid Games. Figure I'd toss them some coin while they work out what the next Labyrinth Lord will look like. 

So expect some more Chill/Cryptworld goodness from me soon!

Down the hall is the last room on the right. The room is the same sort as the rest on this side. 

The commotion in this room can be heard from the outside.

A group of Kobolds (2d6) are trying to spear a large boar-like creature (Dire Boar). They do not notice the characters until they enter the room.  Most of the kobolds have 4hp each, and the boar is down to 3 hp.

There is no indication of where the boar or the kobolds came from or how they ended up in this room.

The kobolds have 2sp and 5cp each (on average).

Down the hall is a half-flight of stairs to the right that meets up with a similar set, both going down and then meeting up with another half-flight going down. This is Encounter area #31 and will be dealt with then.

We have all seen the new proposed OGL. Honestly it looks like publishing under the OGL 1.0a  will soon be over, at least how it has been.  So, what am I do to with three separate monster-related projects?

Simple. I combine what I can and try to get something ready to go.

Here are the efforts of that.

Monster Mash

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/424046/Monster-Mash Here, there be Monsters!

For years brave adventures have been going into dark dungeons and fighting monsters. Now the monsters are fighting back.

Monster Mash is an Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy compatible game supplement that allows you to take on the role not of a stalwart hero but as one of the monsters.

This book features 13 horror-based classes.

The Awakened Golem, Cat Folk, Ghosts, Haglings, Hobgoblins, Revenants, Shadow Elves, Shades, Werewolves, Wererats, Vampires, Profane Necromancers, and the Gothic Witch.

New spells for Haglings, Profane Necromancers, Shadow Elves, and Gothic Witches.
New occult powers ritual spells for Gothic Witches.

Fully compatible with Old-School Essentials and other Basic-Era games.
Fully compatible with other witch books from The Other Side.

Requires Old-School Essentials Core Rules.

--

I put in a lot of the art I was going to use for this, Monstrous Maleficarum and the Basic Bestiaries.  I had wanted to get this out for Halloween (naturally) but I had a lot going on.

Now I would LOVE to get a couple more of these out. I have nearly everything I need; I just have to put everything together. 

Will this be my last publication for OSE? I certainly hope not.

Continuing down to the next room on the right has a strange glow coming from it.

The glow comes from a room full of glowing mushrooms, at least 40 to 50.  

Among the mushrooms are glowing Shriekers. 

There are 15 of them and they are indistinguishable from the other mushrooms in the room.  Once they start shrieking (see your Basic-era rules), it will become nearly impossible to tell them apart. Each attack on a mushroom only has a 1 in 6 chance of being a shrieker. 

Down from Room #21 is another room.

Free Art Assets - Grey Gnome Games - Jason Glover
This room is empty save for some bones and an empty barrel, much like Room 14. There are rats, but they are of the normal sort.

Game Masters can add some random bits here if they like. The idea is that those room has not been used in over a century save for various random monsters. 

Moving down from Room #20 there is another room on the right (all rooms in this hallway are on the right).

Entering the room, there is a huge pile of gold and treasure with the bones of a dragon on top.

Jason Glover - Free Art Assets

When the first character touches the treasure or dragon there is a loud roar (Illusion) and all the lights and torches used go out (darkness spell).  Once the characters get the lights on they will find that the treasure and the character who touched it are gone!

The dragon and the treasure was a programmed illusion. The character who touched it has been hit with a Sleep spell and then turned invisible. If the character makes the Sleep save then the invisibility will not go into effect.

Otherwise, there is no treasure in this room.

Moving on down from the glowing portal in Room #19 there is another door to the right of the party.

 Jason Glover - Free Art Assets

This room is empty save for the bodies of what are believed to be other adventurers. Their weapons are gone but a care search will find a Potion of Heroism and a Potion of Healing (1d6+1). (Finding these is worth 50 xp to the party).

Likewise, their valuables such as coins are gone.

Frantically working on a lot of updates behind the scenes here. But one I want to address that I am looking forward too is what am I doing with the games I run.

Presently I am still in the middle of three different D&D 5e games. They are all part of my Come Endless Darkness mega-campaign:

• Order of the Platinum Dragon (my 5e run of the TAGDQ series)
• The Second Campaign (my run of other classic adventures)
• Into the Nentir Vale (my adaptation of some 1st ed and 4th ed adventures)

All are presently 5e.

My plan is to convert one to Castles & Crusades and the other to Pathfinder 2e.

The obvious choice here is to convert The Second Campaign to Castles & Crusades since it has a lot of old-school 1st material. The next obvious choice is to convert my Into the Nentir Vale to PF2 since it is a broader mix, and I think it is funny that D&D 4 is once again losing out to Pathfinder.

I am not sure how much I'll talk about them online. BUT I do want to talk about how the conversions go.

So in each case, I will grab a PC or NPC from them and see how they convert. I will post that since that is something people will be interested in. In fact, as I am writing this, I am thinking of two PCs in particular that would really make good examples of conversions.

I also might post the Big Bad for each in their new stats. The Second Campaign is overtly about Demogorgon, but I had always thought they would not actually encounter him.  The Nentir Vale is all about Orcus.

In any case, it should be a lot of fun.

Making another right, we come up on encounter area #19. To your immediate left is an opening to a small room.

In Room 19 there is a glowing portal. From the portal 1d4+2 Goblins are coming through.  These goblins look similar to the previous ones.

The portal opens from a nighttime world with several moons in the sky. Other goblins can be seen in the distance. The portal is one-way, Goblins can come into this world, but they cannot go back. 

Let the characters explore the portal as much as they like, but there is no way to go through it.

Turning right (for now) the PCs enter encounter area #18. The hallway is the same stone as before, but it is somehow darker. The hall is 20 feet wide and extends some 60 feet into deepening darkness. 

Standing in the hall, seemingly waiting for the PCs is a small group of goblins.

The goblins are not waiting, but they are not surprised either. They have come up from the lower rooms to investigate the noise. There 1d4+4 goblins here. They are all 1-1 HD (4 hp each, or 1d6). They have shortswords, short bows, and wear leather armor.

If combat goes against them after the first round, one will flee down the hall to bring back reinforcements that arrive in 2d4 turns.

The OGL 1.1/2.0 drama has thrown me for a loop. Not gonna lie.

My whole "Year of the Monster" was built on a foundation of doing monsters of various types all year. I still can, but I need to pivot.

Case in point. I have been silent for the last few days so I can get at least one of my planned monster books out. I am scraping nearly everything and dumping all the art I would use for other projects into it. Hopefully, I'll have something soon.  

I also admit that my enthusiasm for some other plans that were going to extend into 2024 is critically low. 

Even if WotC/Hasbro does some serious backpedaling, my trust is low, and my expectations are non-existent.  This is disappointing because I have enjoyed all editions of D&D. I have also enjoyed writing for all editions of D&D. But I am, right now, not willing to support Wotc/Hasbro and the new version of D&D and my support of 5e is going to be minimal here.

I am though looking forward to some Pathfinder 2nd Ed discussions and deep dives. Also, I am going to try to feature more smaller publishers here. See what they have to offer. Even ones still doing 5e. It's not their fault that Hasbro is doing what they are doing.

So bear with me in this pivot phase.

Past the last two rooms, the grand hall splits left and right.

There is a grand statue of the Vampire Queen. Inspection will reveal that the statue is made of newer material than the surrounding walls.

 Going down either hallway, there is a 1 in 6 chance that characters will notice the slope of the flow is taking them down.  The slope is not enough to send the characters down a full level, but enough to concern them.

Notes: Things should start picking up. 

I have seen lots of great maps online for others, and I thought maybe I could share mine. ;)

This room is identical to Room 15 across the hall. 

This includes a similar specter with the same warning. Though this ghost seems angrier.  If the ghost is touched or attacked, it will become a bloody specter and attack.  This is a true undead.

Bloody Spectre. AC 7. HD 3 (13 hp). Att# 1. Chilling touch 1d6. Special: Silver or magic is required to hit. Turned as a Ghoul (3 HD). No treasure.

Note: If the PCs encounter Room 16 before Room 15, then swap the contents so that this is always encountered after the first specter. 

 Up from Room #13 is another room of similar shape and size.

Within the room appears to be the glowing specter of a young woman. Her form wavers back and forth.

She warns the PCs from going further into the crypts and to turn back now.  

The specter is not undead but an illusion. 

Across from Room #13 is another room.

Free Art Assets - Grey Gnome Games - Jason Glover
This room is empty save for some bones, a rusted sword, and an empty barrel. There are rats, but they are of the normal sort.

This issue with the OGL is changing all the time now. I suppose there will be some sort of announcement about the OGL 2.0 today (yes we are on the 2.0 now).

But until then, we have decided to have a big sale on all Elf Lair Games products, including NIGHT SHIFT.

https://www.elflair.com/

For products on our website, use the code DOOMSDAY40 at checkout to get 40% off your sale. 

For our products on DriveThruRPG, all are on sale for 25% off, no code needed.

Again, NIGHT SHIFT and our upcoming new fantasy RPG "Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age" will break free of the OGL and will be powered by our in-house O.G.R.E.S. 

Interesting times ahead!  Let's all have some fun together and get back to what we have always felt was our #1 job; make fun games for people to enjoy.

Up from Room 11 is a room covered in bones.

Virgil Finlay

Skeletons equal to the number in the party plus retainers rise up from the ground and attack. They are undead and can be turned. 

There are no usable weapons, but 25 cp can be found among them.

There is an old saying, "When one door closes, another one opens."

But you know what? I hate that saying.

When a door closes, you open it back up. 

I grew up playing D&D. When you encounter a closed door, you make your "Open Doors" roll and kick it in!

Look. I love D&D, and I likely always will. While Hasbro's choices disappoint me, I am not going to let them stop my fun.

So at home, I am still going to play the games I like. On my blog and for my writing? Well, there are plenty of exciting existing alternatives. It now sounds like there are going to be more alternatives too.

But maybe the "OSR" phase of my game writing is over. It was fun, and I loved doing it. But many other games are out there that need love and attention, and I am excited to try them out.

One of the original purposes of my original "The Other Side" website was to talk about all sorts of games that I enjoyed. So let that continue now.

This room has a faint glow, and there is the smell of roasted meats.

In this space, there is a stone room but also a forest scene of glowing nearly transparent trees as far as the eye can see.  Characters can only walk the 20 feet by 20 feet of the room. In the center of the grows a large tree laden with fruits.

The fruits are oval-shaped and look like mangoes.  The fruits taste like roasted meat.  Characters can eat them with no problems, they are fine if a little bland.  They disappear once removed from this room.

Across from Room 10 is a similarly configured room.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

A secret door in the floor reveals a sack of 150 GP.  The coins are ancient and unknown to the PCs.