Wednesday 18 September 2024

Another vein in the mythical underworld

Here's another rich seam of OSR material my mining of the old school blogs has turned up.  I suppose I should sort all of these links and ideas into a structured and coherent guide at some point.

Hack & Slash goes into the Quantum Ogre and why Illusionism is bad. The Alexandrian explains what Abused Gamer Syndrome is and how to fix it. 

The Blorb principles @idiomdottning.org are for prepping old school adventures.  

Then @SpiderQueenGaming, Ed, has some OSR wisdom here:

And some more practical advice here:

Pacing tips and tricks part one and part two 

Finishing off with 8 Lessons from running a successful sandbox.


This is an interesting addition that came up on Reddit.  A list of geographic features used in the lord of the rings and their meanings.  Very handy for sandbox place naming.  The OP says they are doing one for man made features as well.

I also found this interesting blog.  This very detailed and analytical review of the The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford adventure is helpful for when designing your own adventures, or just improving published ones. 

Sunday 1 September 2024

Depthcrawls

This is an interesting idea.  A procedural generation process for making an RPG adventure.   You roll dice for cues and it gets stranger and more dangerous the deeper you get.

Random dungeon generation isn't really new but this version ups the game a bit and originates from Emmy 'Cavegirl' Allen's Gardens of Ynn,  Justin Alexander does a good job explaining the concepts here and here.

Justin also reviews Gardens of Ynn, and Cavegirl's other module, the Stygian library, here.

Here are some other similar projects:

The Vast in the dark - the original version is here and the expanded version here and here.

Downcrawl - is available here with more information here and news of a 2E version here.

A Rasp of Sand - an interesting take where multi-generational groups try to return a crown to vengeful sea-god, see here with a QuestingBeast review here.

Monday 26 August 2024

More Dungeon stuff

Here are some more Sandbox-Dungeon-Wilderness links I have found on my travels in the dark and inimical places of the OSR web.

Erebus awaits

Advanced Darkness @ Knight at the Opera - nice thoughts on making light important

The Overloaded Encounter Die @ Necropraxis - a classic solution to Dungeon logistics
The Hazard System - an update

There is no light @ Illusory Sensorium - tracking torches is a false idol 

Movement and action economy @ Traverse Fantasy - why you need a torchbearer

Megadungeon Monday series @ The Angry GM - how to build a megadungeon in many steps

The Forest Deep Part 1 - creepy forests that are out to get you
Choices Information and Meaning - choices should be real, meaningful and informed
Hexcrawls are megadungeons - and pointcrawls too
Make your hexcrawls smaller - and more dense

The classic dungeon crawl theory @ All Dead Generations - a great series on dungeon crawls

More OSR Links @ The Links to Wisdom OSR Wiki

Pointcrawls - The path is more important than the ‘direction’ @ vdonnutvalley

Pointcrawls Applied: The Escalating Encounter Die @ the adventuring day

Some more adventure reviews @ Axian Spice - scroll down for the OSR ones.  
Axian's Falkrest Abbey is a nice little introductory adventure with great organisation.
Also these two pages, here and here, on using Tomb of the Serpent Kings with OSE
Last, some discussion on Lairs & Dungeons using the OSE SRD
 
Some good advice from Reddit on running old school adventures.
 
And an old thread from enworld identifying a key difference between old and new school D&D.  Namely, do you want combat as sport or combat as war.
 
Monster tactics @ The monsters know what they're doing

 

Wilderness dungeons @ signs in the wilderness
 
Adventure reviews and more @  tenfootpole.org
 
Bryce Lynch's adventure design tips @ Into the dark's summary of the tenfootpole approach 

Sunday 28 July 2024

Soviet Central Asia Posters

A few more propaganda posters.  This time from Soviet central Asia, so useful for true back of beyond games.

'He who does not work, neither shall he eat.' Uzbek-language Soviet poster, 1920

'The bourgeoisie, hiding behind the Book of the Prophet, was misleading the demeaned people'-Soviet propaganda poster from 1920 Baku showing a Turkic horseman riding with a red banner bearing the star and crescent

'Long Live The Land Reform!', Soviet Uzbek poster, 1920

Soviet poster (1920s)- 'Muslim Comrades! Enemies of the working people are encroaching on your freedom! Only you can protect your families! Only Soviet power will make you the masters of your free beautiful steppes, mountains and rocks.'

 
Poster of 1921 in Soviet Azerbaijan- 'Muslim woman! Tsars, lords, khans have taken away your rights. You have been enslaved by the state, factories and families. The Soviet gov. gives you all the rights equally. The S. gov. is the protector'

Thursday 25 July 2024

More Red Propaganda Posters

Here are some more Red Propaganda posters, starting with the ten commandments of the proletariat (1919).

The ten commandments of the proletariat (1919)

The commandments:

  1. Don’t let Kolchak, Denikin, Mannerheim strangle your power.

  2. Take better care of your rifle.

  3. Be on alert every minute.

  4. Don't hurt the average peasant when you fight with your fist.

  5. Don't let hunger strangle you.

  6. Dispel the village darkness.

  7. Be strong, take care of your party.

  8. Don't trust your enemies.

  9. Don’t let go of power from your hands.

  10. Be strong as a rock in the final, decisive battle. 

DONETSK COAL MUST BE OURS!

DONETSK COAL MUST BE OURS!

No coal - Factories will stall

No coal - Trains will stop

Until Don is ours, hunger will be with us

VICTORY OVER DENIKIN'S GANGS IS A VICTORY OVER HUNGER 

Lenin and Trotsky defeating Denikin, Soviet political poster, c. 1920, USSR. Showing Red Army soldiers trampling General Denikin

 Some specific anti-Kolchak posters.

 
'Who is Selling Russia' - Bolshevik caricature depicting Admiral Alexander Kolchak (left), as a foreign puppet who is selling the sovereignty of Russia to the Allied Intervention forces

Bolshevik anti-Kolchak poster

This last one is aimed at the rebelling sailors of the Kronstadt naval base. 

The Kronstadt Card Is Trumped! (1921, Vladimir Kozlinskii, Russian)

Soviet-Polish War Posters

These next propaganda posters are from the Soviet-Polish War in 1920.  First some the anti-soviet posters.

 
'To arms! Join the Volunteer Army!' Polish-Soviet War (1920)

'The Soviet Pyramid', 1920, Poland

'Join the soldier, or surrender to Bolshevism', Polish poster from 1920

Bolshevik Freedom. Poland. Around 1920

Beat the Bolshevik - Famous Polish poster, 1920

'Again jewish hands. Never!' Anti-Communist poster, 1920, Poland

Now some posters appealing to the patriotism of the Polish people.

'Whoever believes in God - will come under the banner of the [White] Eagle and the Pahonia to defend Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn!'' - Polish poster made during the Polish-Soviet War, 1920

Polish-Soviet War Propaganda, 1920. 'To Arms! Save the Fatherland! Remember well our fate'

'Józef Piłsudski' by Władysław Skoczylas, Poland, 1920

JOIN THE ARMY - DEFEND THE HOMELAND' - Polish poster (showing general Józef Haller) made by Stanisław Sawiczewski during the Polish-Soviet War, 1920

Every doorstep will be our fortress (1920). Polish-Soviet war

'To Arms! Fatherland Calls!' A Polish-Bolshevik war poster 1920

Last some anti-Polish posters from the Bolsheviks.  They are aimed at the nobles and their foreign backers rather than the Polish people.

'To help the Polish gentry! Marshal Foch's last reserves'. [Russian SFSR, 1920]

soviet poster from the time of 1920 polish-soviet war

soviet poster from the time of 1920 polish-soviet war

RSFSR(1920)- 'This is what Polish lords' undertaking will end with.'

Polish - Soviet war 1920

'Noble Poland - last dog of the Entente', Soviet Poster, 1920

'We are at war with the royalties, not with the Polish working people!', Polish-Soviet War, 1920. Made by Ivan Malyutin

Red Propaganda Posters

Next up are some Bolshevik posters.  I'm planning to try printing off some of these to add to terrain and my trains.

1919 'The golden idol of the world, the capital'

1920 propaganda poster- 'In order to have more, it is necessary to produce more. In order to produce more, it is necessary to know more'.

Absence from Work vs. Hero of Labor, Russia, 1920

'Are you helping to eliminate illiteracy' 1920

'Be on guard!', Dmitry Moor, Russia, 1920

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1920)

'Beware of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, they are followed by Tsarist generals, priests and landowners' Soviet Russia, 1920

Bolshevik portrait of Leon Trotsky as Saint George slaying the dragon of capitalism, 1918

Bolshevik poster- 'Priests are helping capital and interfering with the worker. Get out of the way!' 1920.

Bolshevik poster, 1919 - The party of the rich is over

Bolshevik propaganda showing all the revolutions across Europe, 1919-20

Comrade Lenin cleans the earth from scum - Soviet Russia, 1920

Comrade, your factory is your pride!, 1919

Cossack, who do you stand with Us or them? 1918-1920

Death to World Imperialism! (1919)

Every hammer blow is a blow to the enemy, Russia, 1920

Finnish Civil war Poster (pro-Reds) 1918

In 1919 - Bolshevik Propaganda. Tsar, Pope & the Rich on the Worker's Shoulders

'Kappel's soldier, who are you protecting. Take off the blindfold and look around', Soviet Anti-White Poster, 1918-1920

'Knowledge will break the chains of slavery', Russia (1920)

Kochergin N.M.- May 1, 1920. Through the Wreckage of Capitalism to the World Brotherhood of Working People'

Life or Death under the Heel of Capital, circa 1919 by Viktor Deni

Literacy is the path to communism 1920

'May 1st, All Russian Subbotnik' (1920) - poster promoting the first Communist Saturday to be held

Parasites and idlers, 1920, Moscow

Political poster by Victor Deni, 'Capitalism' (caricature) 1919 Russia Private collection

Proletarians of all lands, unite!!! - RSFSR 1919

Soon the whole world will be ours - RSFSR, 1919

'The Bolshevik' (1920) by Boris Kustodiev, a painting from the Russian Civil War

'The October Revolution is a bridge to a brighter future!' Soviet Russian poster, 1920.

'The Red Army is the Defense of the Proletarian Revolution', Russia, 1919

To the lighthouse of the Communist International (1919)

Workers, grab a gun! - Russia, ca. 1919

Wrangel is coming To Arms, Proletarians, 1920 Russian Civil War Propaganda

More to follow, the Russo Polish War ...