[Now Available] Forest Adventures -- Shadowdark Supplement

Forest Adventures

Designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

The materials presented in this booklet are optional, providing a new ancestry, new class, new spells, and new patrons for players and new monsters, treasures, and a complete mini-campaign setting for the game master to challenge player characters.

This supplement is designed to expand options for any campaign setting or sub-region of a campaign setting that is based in a forested area.

Designed for use with Shadowdark, Forest Adventures is easily adaptable to any other classic style OSR Role-Playing Game.

Forest Adventures includes:

New Oozeling Ancestry

New Hermit Class

20 new Woodland Spells

Four new Patrons for Warlocks and Witches

15 new forest-themed monsters:

Brudnakula

Doe Maiden

Flitterswarm

False Satyr

Korrigan

Lamia

Lamia Princess

Leucrotta

Nix

Nixie

Plonakupa

Satyr

Schaedelbaum

Woodwyrm

Ywazent

10 new forest-themed treasures:

Horn of the Woodland

Nixie Ring

Potion of Ooze

Potion of Power

Rune-Carved Menhir

Saint’s Cloak

Seed of the Outer Sphere

Stormcrown

Staff of the Woodlands

Woodwyrm Necklace

A Gazetteer of Witchyflow Vale for James Mishler’s Hawkmoor Campaign Setting, including:

Extensive Encounter Tables, with region guidelines and history;

25 Hex-based Encounters

d100 Specific Witchyflow Vale Encounter Table

Witchyflow 2 mile-per-hex GM’s Hex Map

Witchyflow 2 mile-per-hex VTT Player’s Hex Map

40 pages (37 pages of content).

$6.00

AND NOW, A WARNING: My Shadowdark products add a further level of complexity to the rules and to play than a typical Shadowdark player might desire. The difference in complexity is about that between the Basic rules of a game and the Advanced rules. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN FURTHER COMPLEXITY IN YOUR GAME. YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!

BUY FOREST ADVENTURES ON DRIVETHRURPG NOW

[Announcement] James Mishler Games Extended Hiatus & End of the OGL Sale

UPDATE: With Hasbro's apparent change of heart, I am at this point reconsidering removing my products from DriveThruRPG. That will depend on further developments. I will not be satisfied that this is all irrevocably resolved until they release OGL 1.0b, properly adding the term "irrevocably" and properly excising the term "authorized." At that point I will consider everything properly finished to my satisfaction for the protection of all OGL products. 

In any case, I still have to wait and see what shakes out with Labyrinth Lord and Shadowdark and other games and Open Licenses and whatnot before I decide how to move forward.

Until then, the 23% off sale continues as planned. Barring another reversal of Hasbro's decision, my existing products will remain available until further notice.

After much consideration, I have decided that the simplest course forward after the OGL Debacle is to simply purge James Mishler Games of all products, go on hiatus, and return when the whole situation clears up.

I have no desire to publish new products for game lines that might be forced to disappear overnight.

I have no desire to support games that were designed to support earlier versions of games that Hasbro still owns.

Don’t get me wrong; I still love BX Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the Labyrinth Lord/Advanced Labyrinth Lord games that were developed to support those lines.

I will never stop playing them… probably in the Advanced Labyrinth Lord format, as that is closest to how I originally played the game.

But I cannot support them anymore.

Dan Proctor is working on a new edition of an OGL-less Labyrinth Lord. I will always support Dan with his endeavors.

Kelsey Dionne is working on an updated OGL-less Shadowdark RPG. I will always support Kelsey and her work.

If possible, I will support both games with published products.

But my current product lines are going away.

I am not going to wait until Hasbro decides what to finally do with “OGL” 2.0-whatever. I have no desire to follow all the malarky anymore. They are going to do whatever they want to do, right or wrong, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, legal or illegal, fans, long-term viability, and simple common sense be damned.

I’m just done.

The JMG End of the OGL 23% Sale Off resumes on Friday, January 27th, and will run through Friday, February 24th. 

The sale might end sooner if Hasbro puts out the new “OGL” before then.

Everything comes down that weekend. 

Everything.

All my products on DriveThruRPG. Everything, including all maps. Everything will be deleted from their system. I’m just going to purge it all and start anew.

I will have something new. A placeholder, to keep JMG active on the site.

But otherwise, everything will be completely gone. 

This is the absolute last chance to buy anything JMG from the OGL era. 

This will be your last chance to download anything you have bought.

I will also be deleting all my Dungeons & Dragons, OGL, Labyrinth Lord, and Shadowdark-related entries on my personal and company blogs. Gone.

I will return to blogging sooner than later, and once things shake out for the new Labyrinth Lord and Shadowdark and other Open License Games, I will return to publishing. That might be three months, six months, probably a year on the outside. I will be happy to support them and other RPGs that pique my interest and have a true Open Gaming License. 

I will never support Hasbro or Dungeons & Dragons again. 

They get nothing from me. Nothing. Nada. Nix. Niente.

Not so much as a bent copper.

No more print books, no more classic PDFs from Wizards. No collectibles. I will not go to the movie, and I will not watch the streaming show.

I have been a hard-core Dungeons & Dragons fan for more than 40 years. My entire adult life, my career, was chosen because of the love of games that was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. I met most of my friends through games. I met my wife because I got a job in gaming.

For 40 years, I have been a walking, talking advertisement for Dungeons & Dragons.

But no more.

Dungeons & Dragons is dead to me.

Long live Open Gaming.

Long reign the Age of the ORC.

[James Mishler Games]: The OGL: Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns

I go away for less than two weeks and all Hell breaks loose.

That'll teach me to try to take a vacation!

I'm sure you've seen the news all over the place.

We know that some elements of the leaked New "OGL" are true, from statements by those who are already working with it or have negotiated to do so.

We do not know if Hasbro intends to "de-authorize" the Old OGL for everyone or only for those who opt-in on the New "OGL."

We do not know if they try to kill the Old OGL for everyone else if it would even be legal or not.

Doesn't really matter, if they intend to lawyer up and follow up C&Ds with actual lawsuits.

Might not be moral; might not be ethical; might not be legal. But that's the way the system works here.

I don't think anyone has the money or wherewithal to fight this thing; it would take years and years before anything was resolved, likely without the ability to publish under the Old OGL until it was resolved.

We don't know how this is going to work with DriveThruRPG.

We don't even know all the things we don't know yet!

But I do know one thing. I'm not going to deal with it.

Even if they don't follow through now, there is no knowing if they might try to follow through later.

And besides, I'm no fan of the way they are mistreating the community of designers and players by even toying with these ideas. No sir, I don't like it at all.

Ergo, James Mishler Games is getting out of the OGL publishing business.

Starting tomorrow morning (Saturday, January 7) most of my products will go on sale at 23% off...

Our OGL Countdown Sale.

In celebration of 23 years of the OGL, almost all our products are 23% off!

The sale is scheduled to last through January 12th. Rumors have it that the New "OGL" might be released on Friday the 13th. 

How apropos.

If so, and if there is as expected a sunset date on the Old OGL, right or wrong, legal or not, I'll have my products down on or before that date.

So, if you've been on the fence about buying my products, buy them while you still can. And download them right away, as we don't know if we can still keep them hosted after that. Then save them in several locations (backing up in multiple locations is always a good idea, anyway).

My return to publishing thereafter depends on a couple of things.

First and foremost, Kelsey Dionne of The Arcane Library has already announced that she is pivoting away from 5E and going to focus on the Shadowdark RPG, which will be rewritten to ensure it is not entangled with the OGL.

I will be supporting Shadowdark once it releases. That release is now, of course, delayed.

Unfortunately, this whole kerfuffle means that I will no longer be able to publish for Labyrinth Lord. However, Dan Proctor has already considered some options of what to do in the event that Labyrinth Lord has to go away, so I will be looking into that, as well.

Many other companies are considering creating their own RPGs and offering them in a true, non-revocable, perpetual license. I'll look and play through some of those, and then see what strikes my fancy.

Until then, as the mood strikes me, I'll probably concentrate on writing system-free products, such as encounters, NPCs, Locations, and various worlds and world elements.

I've got a LOT of Hexographer maps I can offer.

Finally, I will also look into re-writing Isle of Eldisor to be essentially system-free. That would require extensive changes and require some time. I hope to be able to offer it in the same "slot" as the original Isle of Eldisor product so that those who purchased it can simply download it. I'll have to see how that works on DriveThruRPG.

Thank you for your support for the last 10 years. None of this would have been possible without you.

This is definitely not the way I wanted things to go on the 10th Anniversary of James Mishler Games.

But sometimes, you just never know...

Taking Stock – Going on Sabbatical

I figure I’d start taking stock at the beginning of my gaming career. I started working in the industry full time on January 1st, 1995; my last full-time day in the industry was September 28, 2012. 17 years total, with a few minor interruptions in-between, and since January 2013 I have been self-publishing part time through James Mishler Games. 

In that time I have designed, written, edited, and published games; written magazines and books about games; bought, sold, marketed, and advertised games in manufacturing, distribution, and retail; and run conventions and other gaming events. The only thing I’ve not done is anything artistic, other than cartography, but that’s due to lack of talent rather than any lack of desire or need.

This January will be James Mishler Games’ 10th anniversary, with the release of the first (and only) issue of Hercynian Grimoire on January 9, 2013. In that time my wife and I have published 57 products, ranging from simple maps and character sheets to Hexcrawl gazetteers and monstrous sourcebooks, and everything in between. Of these, six are Silver Best-Sellers (sold 100+) and 13 are Copper Best-Sellers (sold 50+). 

I’ve sold 2,680 units at an average of $1.57 each (net) and given away 3,321 units. This will be the first year I get a 1099 from DriveThruRPG, which tells you how piddly some… well, most year’s sales have been… 

Here are the Top 5s based on units sold and dollars earned:

Top 5 Sellers by Numbers

1. Vampires of the Olden Lands 

2. Barbarian Class 

3. Necromancer Class 

4. Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent 

5. Ogres of the Olden Lands 

Top 5 Sellers by Dollars

1. Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Cyclopedia & Gazetteer 

2. Hercynian Grimoire #1 

3. Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead 

4. Vampires of the Olden Lands 

5. Ogres of the Olden Lands 

2022 was a banner year in many ways. We published 20 of the 57 products on our list this year, including the Isle of Eldisor, which was the culmination of three years of attempts to realize a specific vision of a campaign setting. 

One third of all published items, more than a third of all sold items, and almost half of all JMG income were realized in 2022, mostly in early 2022.

For most, that would be a reason to push through and move on to the next level of publishing. 

But no, not for me. 

After the Adventure Games Publishing Debacle, I decided I would only make my game writing a sideline at best – something for fun and for money to buy more games. Self-publishing games for anything more than that, well, I found out it is not for me.

And on top of everything, right now is a very, very slow time for sales. Between Labyrinth Lord moving to a 2nd Edition next year and the Shadowdark RPG not even yet being released, sales have been slow the last couple of months. Very, very slow since September when the new edition of Labyrinth Lord was announced.

So, between the big push to publish earlier this year, and the big slowdown while waiting for the new edition of Labyrinth Lord and the release of the Shadowdark RPG, I think it is time to take a break. 

We’ll call this one a sabbatical.

The sabbatical will last at least until the release of the new edition of Labyrinth Lord and the release of the Shadowdark RPG, both of which I expect will occur sometime in early to mid-Summer (fingers crossed!)

In the meantime, I am going to recharge my batteries by spending time with my wife; gaming with some friends; and cataloging and rebuilding my once-extensive game collection. I have one other neato Secret Project I need to work on for some friends, but other than that, all my gaming will be purely for fun until I see some cool new books in hand.

I do not plan to do any blogging during the sabbatical. Blogging… isn’t what it once was. There was the Golden Age of early Blogger & Forums; then the Silver Age of Blogger/WordPress and Google+; and finally, the Bronze Age of, well, whatever was left. And then there’s now, the Iron Age, with the Wastelands of Discord and the Fall of Twitter. So… meh.

Check back here around July 1st, 2023, to see what comes next; by then I hope the new edition of Labyrinth Lord and the new Shadowdark RPG will either be on my shelves or on the way.

Until then, good gaming!

[Now Available] The Witch, the Shepherd, His Goats, and Their Daughter Shadowdark RPG Adventure

The Witch, the Shepherd, His Goats, and Their Daughter

An Adventure Designed for use with for Shadowdark

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Art by Evlyn Moreau

Challenge Level: GBX

The Witch, the Shepherd, His Goats, and Their Daughter is a fairy tale adventure designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG. Help the Shepherd find his Goats and Daughter who have been kidnapped by the Witch of the Woods. The woods are home to all manner of strange, fearsome, and fey monsters… not to mention the witch!

Featuring 12 encounter sites, each with various dangers and rewards, The Witch, the Shepherd, His Goats, and Their Daughter provides action and adventure for one to three sessions.

The Witch, the Shepherd, His Goats, and Their Daughter is a forest point-crawl based on the art of Evlyn Moreau. It presents three Challenge Levels and can thus be used for three different kind of adventuring parties.

This adventure is designed for three separate Challenge Levels of play – Gauntlet (G), for parties of 0th level characters; Beginner (B), for parties of 1st or 2nd level characters; and Expert (X), for parties of 3rd and 4th level characters. Note that G level adventures are more difficult than B level and slightly less difficult than X level, as they are designed for four or five players each with four 0-level characters, rather than four or five players each with one character of 1st or 2nd levels or 3rd or 4th levels. Most, though not all monster and danger difficulties and treasures vary depending on the level of play – the greater the danger, the greater the reward! Choose the level of play based on the characters at hand – of course, you could also go with a lesser or greater level of danger, depending on the desires and fears of your players and their characters to seek danger and reward regardless of level! Higher levels of play in subsequent adventures include Champion (C) 5th to 6th, Master (M) 7th to 8th, and Legend (L) 9th to 10th.

JMGSD04, 20 pages (17 pages of content), $3.00.

Buy it now on DriveThruRPG

[Now Available] Expanded Races: Thanians - A Shadowdark Supplement

Expanded Races: Thanians

Designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Expanded Races: Thanians includes 41 new races for use with the Shadowdark Role-playing Game.

Thanians, also known as Beastfolk, are anthropomorphic animals, including insect, amphibian, reptile, avian, and mammals, and including the following races:

Antfolk

Apefolk

Badgerfolk

Batfolk

Bearfolk

Beefolk

Birdfolk

Boarfolk

Butterflyfolk

Catfolk

Cattlefolk

Corvidfolk

Crabfolk

Cricketfolk

Deerfolk

Dogfolk

Duckfolk

Fishfolk

Foxfolk

Frogfolk

Gatorfolk

Goatfolk

Horsefolk

Lionfolk

Lizardfolk

Locustfolk

Mantisfolk

Monkeyfolk

Mousefolk

Otterfolk

Pigfolk

Rabbitfolk

Raccoonfolk

Raptorfolk

Ratfolk

Roachfolk

Serpentfolk

Sheepfolk

Skunkfolk

Tigerfolk

Wolffolk

Each has a brief description of common physical characteristics and typical societal systems, along with one or more special abilities.

16 pages (13 pages of content). 

$1.99 -- A steal!

Buy it now at DriveThruRPG!

 

General Blog Update

It has been quiet here recently.

After a series of fast releases – 13 products in four months, from April through July, followed by the release of Magical Beast Adventures in August, I decided to take some time off to collect my thoughts. Almost two months later I’m still trying; collecting thoughts is kind of like herding cats.

In that time, several things have happened that will impact my writing going forward.

First, Dan Proctor of Goblinoid Games has announced that he is going to release Labyrinth Lord 2nd Edition. That will be sometime in early 2023, so I am likely going to wait until then to start writing new LL products. The differences will be minor, I am sure, but most folks prefer new products to be for the most recent edition. In this, discretion is the better part of valor.

Second, I got a full-time job. This will cut significantly into my writing time going forward.

Third, shortly after I got the job, I tore my left meniscus, and have been hobbling around on crutches ever since. Fortunately, my job is such that I can work from home, so that’s good. Unfortunately, for various reasons, I cannot get the surgery to fix it for a couple of months. So that sucks. But things could be worse, and we are taking it day by day.

So, no Labyrinth Lord products for maybe six months, and limited production going forward.

What’s on the schedule, then, such as I’ve ever had a schedule?

Well, I had some ideas for further materials, including a full campaign setting, for Magical Beast Adventures. But the sales on that have been underwhelming, so that’s been shelved.

Work on the Castles & Crusades project has also been shelved. The response to that made the sales of Magical Beast Adventures seem spectacular by comparison.

I was working on a new module when I got the job, but between the job, my leg, and the new upcoming edition of Labyrinth Lord, that too went on the back burner.

Isle of Eldisor: The Northlands is still on the list, somewhere. While sales for Eldisor were better than anything else in years, it just has not yet made enough sales to carry a full-sized expansion. But that is a possibility in the future.

I have some vague ideas for a city product. I LOVE city adventures. But for various reasons, it is difficult to get started on those now.

That’s about it. 

I think for the next while I’ll be focusing on actual gaming, rather than writing for publishing. 

I am currently in two online games, my Old School Buddies Monday Night Game and my Merlin’s Keep Crew Friday Night Game. So far between the two groups we’ve played Blades in the Dark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Advanced Labyrinth Lord, and Shadowdark. They are great groups.

I’ve had a lot more chances to actually play rather than run with these groups. I’m getting the hankering to run again.

I’m thinking of running the Monday Night Group through some Dungeons & Dragons, using the classic Cyclopedia Edition and setting the campaign in Mystara. We’re also talking about playing some Twilight 2000. 

I’m still debating what to run for the Friday Night Group. I’m thinking I might try to fill my desire for city adventures and develop a city for them to play in using Shadowdark. If you haven’t checked out Shadowdark, you really should. That link takes you to the Arcane Library page where you can download a free Quick Start PDF set.

I’m sure I’ll be posting about their adventures here.

Oh, and the release of the Skull and Bones: Savage Storm comic book has been moved back to March 2023, to track with the release of the game. Keep an eye out for that, too.

That’s about it for now.

Good gaming!

[Now Available] Summoning Magical Beasts for Fun & Profit

Summoning Magical Beasts for Fun & Profit!

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran Mishler

Have you ever wanted to go out into the wilds and capture and train Magical Beasts as companions, friends, and your helpful bodyguards/prize fighters?

Have you ever wanted to show up that snarky friend of yours who said you just didn’t have what it takes?

Have you ever wanted to be the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was?

Then hey, do I have a game for you!

Summoning Magical Beasts for Fun & Profit provides you with everything you need to run a Labyrinth Lord campaign in a world of Magical Beasts where you play a Magical Beast Summoner!

Go on a journey to find and bind all the Magical Beasts!

Fight with them in Matches with friends and Melees with Wicked Enemies!

Gather your team of Magic Beasts and go out and be a Hero!

Summoning Magical Beasts for Fun & Profit includes all the following information to run an entire Magical Beast Campaign!

Magical Beast Summoner Class includes the following:

Starting Magical Beasts

Binding Magical Beasts

Healing Magical Beasts

Summoning Magical Beasts

Training Magical Beasts

Companion Magical Beasts

Bonus Special Abilities

Summoner Specialties

Beast Master

Beast Lord

Building a Summoner Organization

Magical Beast Description includes the following:

Magical Beast Ability Scores

14 Energy Types

Magical Beast Experience

Magical Beast Experience Value

Magical Beast Loyalty & Morale

Breeding Magical Beasts

Magical Beast Class includes the following:

Bonus Hit Points

Energy Attacks

Special Abilities

Magical Beast Special Abilities include the following:

25 1st Level+ General Special Abilities

14 1st Level + Physical Attack Adjustment Abilities

14 1st Level+ Special Energy Attack Abilities

22 4th Level + General Special Abilities

10 8th Level + General Special Abilities

5 16th Level + General Special Abilities

Magical Beast Breeds includes 26 Breeds, including:

Batrachians

Bats

Bears

Birds, Columbidae

Birds, Galliformes

Birds, Passerines

Birds, Raptors

Birds, Waterfowl

Bovids

Canines

Creepy Crawlies

Dragons

Equines

Felines

Fish

Flora, Carnivorous

Flora, Trees

Foxes

Ghosts

Lepidoptera

Oozes

Reptiles

Rodents

Snakes

Spiders

Turtles

Magical Beast Campaign Details, including:

Magical Beast Campaign Settings

Magical Beasts in the Wild

Magical Beasts Chapter and Verse

Organizations

Matches

Melees

Beast Boosters

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any other Old School RPG!

64 page Booklet (60 pages of content), $8.00

Buy It Now on DriveThruRPG!

[Now Available] Expanded Talents for the Shadowdark RPG

Expanded Talents

Designed for use with the Shadowdark RPG 

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler 

Expanded Talents contains a new talent system for the Shadowdark RPG. It expands the Class Talent Tables for each class from five talents to 11 talents, with many new talents to roll or choose from! 

New talent tables are included for Clerics, Fighters, Thieves, Wizards, Knights of St. Ydris, Warlocks, and Witches! 

Expanded Talents also offers new Racial Talent Tables. A player may, at the discretion of the Game Master, choose to roll a talent from their character’s race rather than from their class. These tables provide a character with talents that emulate the talents of those races according to myth, legend, and fantasy role-playing gaming tradition.

New talent tables are included for Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Halflings, Half-Orcs, and Humans!

A new talent system, complete with 13 new talent tables designed for use with Shadowdark!

16 pages (13 pages of content).

$1.99

Buy it now at DriveThruRPG!

The Shadowdark Quick Start PDF is available FREE from The Arcane Library!

Get the Shadowdark Quick Start Now!

[Now Available] Vampire Class

Vampire Class

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

This new class booklet presents a 20-level Vampire class for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any other classic style OSR Role-Playing Game.

The Vampire Class booklet includes details and rules on:

• Becoming a vampire.
• Vampire hit points and ability scores.
• Special defenses, resistances, and immunities.
• Vampire special abilities.
• Vampire combat, bringing back the blood drain!
• Vampire weaknesses.

With this class, a player’s character who has been transformed into a vampire no longer need become a non-player character! One can also run an entire campaign with vampire player characters! And of course, it is an excellent source for creating unique vampire enemies.

16-page booklet, 11 pages of content. $2 – CHEAP!

Buy it now on DriveThruRPG!

[Now Available] The Demon Tower of Valdig Fel

The Demon Tower of Valdig Fel

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Cartography by Dyson Logos

 

The Demon Tower of Valdig Fel is the first adventure specifically set in the Isle of Eldisor Hexcrawl Campaign Setting. Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, it is easily adapted to any OSR-Style Role-Playing Game.

 

The Demon Tower of Valdig Fel is an ancient, much-storied flying citadel in the shape of a demon’s head. Since the death of its creator during the Wars of Succession following the Fall of Eldisor, it has passed through the hands of countless villains, who have used the flying tower to raid, pillage, and enslave the peoples of the Ivory Plains and beyond. Terrible tales of wizards, demons, and dragons follow in its wake.

 

And now it has drifted into a tree-lined ridge near Wulf’s Ferry… right in your own backyard!

 

What are the inhabitants up to? Are they here to raid or to trade?

 

What of the rumors of centuries of treasure hidden within?

 

Are you brave or foolish enough to find out?

 

The Demon Tower of Valdig Fel is designed for use with Labyrinth Lord and other OSR-Style Role-Playing Games. Designed for use for a party of 4 to 6 adventurers of 5^th to 7^th level, its dangers can easily be increased or decreased for more powerful or less experienced parties.

 

24-page booklet, 19 pages of adventure. $3

Buy it now on DriveThruRPG!

[Now Available] Shortcuts to Adventure #03: Monstrous Reflections

Shortcuts to Adventure #03: Monstrous Reflections

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Shortcuts to Adventure is a new series of mini-adventures designed to be fit into any dungeon, sewer, or ruined city. Each consists of five to 10 rooms, no more, and has an adventure theme.

The third Shortcuts to Adventure module is Monstrous Reflections. This one is a doozy. The party finds themselves in an area where they can all too easily get in over their heads. A simple clan of refuge goblins seeks to save their skins by offering up information on their neighbor… a crazy old and very wealthy magic-user. He has a giant crystal, they say, and he stares into it all the time. If taking out the magic-user is so easy, though, why do the goblins have such a look of terror in their eyes?

Designed for a party of 1st to 3rd level adventurers (maybe…), this adventure can easily be adjusted to higher levels by altering the mix and number of monsters present.

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, this adventure can easily be used with any Old School RPG.

Eight pages, three pages of adventure. $1 – CHEAP!

Buy it now on DriveThruRPG!

[Now Available] Fairies Fair and Foul Volume #01

Fairies Fair and Foul Volume 1

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

The Fairies Fair and Foul series transforms the list of fairies from Michael Denham’s famous tracts into a series of creatures fit for encounters in Labyrinth Lord and other Old School RPGs.

The fairies included herein are not necessarily based on myths and legends, taking merely inspiration from the name and possibly inspiration from myths and legends. Some are created from whole cloth, much as many of the names of fairies in the Denham Tracts most likely were. 

Rest assured, they will challenge your players with new and interesting encounters!

This first volume includes seven new types of fairies:

The Alholde Fairy – A household fairy who only the rich and powerful can afford.

The Fairy Apparition – A creature literally born of fairy nightmares!

The Banshee Fairy – Wicked fairies all too… keen… on avenging themselves on all other life!

The Barguest Fairy – A greedy beast of a fairy who toys with his enemies like a cat does a mouse…

The Black Dog Fairy – Guardians at the crossroads between the Fairy and Mortal worlds.

The Black Bug Fairy – Mortals should be careful when they wish upon a star, as they never know who might be listening…

The Bloody Bones Fairy – These traitorous fairies have lost their heads… but a little setback like that would never stop them. Just don’t lose your head when you encounter them…

Seven new fairies – Mostly wicked and foul, in this run. Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any Old School RPG.

10 pages, 7 pages of fairies, $1 – CHEAP!

Buy it now on DriveThruRPG!

[Now Available] Shortcuts to Adventure #02: The Lost Gnome Mine

Shortcuts to Adventure #02: The Lost Gnome Mine

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Shortcuts to Adventure is a new series of mini-adventures designed to be fit into any dungeon, sewer, or ruined city. Each consists of five to 10 rooms, no more, and has an adventure theme.

The second Shortcut to Adventure module is The Lost Gnome Mine. Here long ago a clan of gnomes discovered a huge and beautiful black diamond. So magnificent was it, they began to worship it. Then, strange and terrible things happened, and the gnomes disappeared. But it is said that the huge black diamond, worth a king’s ransom, remains to be found…

Designed for a party of 1^st to 3^rd level adventurers, this adventure can easily be adjusted to higher levels by altering the mix and number of monsters present.

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, this adventure can easily be used with any Old School RPG.

Eight pages, three pages of adventure. $1 – CHEAP!

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[Now Available] Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God

Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God

By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

Shortcuts to Adventures is a new series of mini-adventures designed to be fit into any dungeon, sewer, or ruined city. Each consists of five to 10 rooms, no more, and has an adventure theme.

The first Shortcut to Adventure is the Shrine of the Slime-God. Here horrible Chaotic and Evil priests and cultists come to worship the Demon-Prince of Slime. Here they store their treasures when they return home and hide in obscurity among their Lawful, Goodly neighbors… but they do not leave these treasures unguarded!

Designed for a party of 4th to 6th level adventurers, this adventure can easily be adjusted to higher or lower levels by altering the mix and number of monsters present.

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, this adventure can easily be used with any Old School RPG.

Eight pages, three pages of adventure. $1 – CHEAP!

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Isle of Eldisor: A Realm of Crawling Chaos

The Isle of Eldisor comes across in most ways as an Epic High Fantasy campaign setting, but, in truth, it has more than a dash of Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror lurking beneath the surface. Literally – beneath the surface of the land and sea.

Thus, if you are running an Eldisor campaign you should check out Goblinoid Games’ Realms of Crawling Chaos, a guide to using Lovecraftian elements in your Labyrinth Lord or OSR RPG campaigns.

If you are running Eldisor using 5E, then I would suggest checking out Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5E. It is an amazing, in-depth, and novel treatment of the Mythos for use with 5E by a past-master of the Mythos Horror RPG genre.

First and most prominently, of course, are the Morlocks, which are not Lovecraftian per se, being an invention of H. G. Wells, though even then they have more than a touch of body horror and cosmic horror about them. In Eldisor, they are a full-blown Lovecraftian fusion, as they worship the Old Ones, notably Abhoth, Atlach-Nacha, and Tsathoggua. They are the bogeymen who haunt the nightmares of the Tribesmen and the colonists. Orcs and goblins are monstrous, but Morlocks? These are monsters that are supposedly men…

Then there are the Cavemen, which would on the surface seem to be normal, everyday Neanderthals. However, many of the Cavemen clans are corrupted by Chaos, and for all intents and purposes these should be treated as Voormis… Dreadful Secret: true Voormis are found on Eldisor, in the Northlands. More on that some other time… But if you want to give a corrupted clan a bit of a boost, check out the options available via various Mythos magics and abilities. The Subhuman race from Crawling Chaos is a possible player character race for extended OSR Eldisor campaigns.

Then there are those that dwell beneath the surface of the deep waters… the Deep Ones. These monstrous fish-folk are ever at their age-old schemes to try to take over the surface world for the greater glory of Cthulhu, Father Dagon, and Mother Hydra. Fortunately, they are mostly limited to the waters and coasts of the Twilight Ocean, though they continually seek to make inroads into the waters and coasts of the Merrow Sea. There are minor hamlets of Sea-Bloods scattered across both coasts, with all the dangers and potential treasures they offer. The Sea-Blood race from Crawling Chaos is a possible player character race for extended OSR Eldisor campaigns.

Note: For the Deep Ones, if you do not have a proper source for their game stats, you can use Sahuagin in their place, or if using official 5E, you can use Kuo-Toa.

There are other Mythos elements at work in Eldisor. Humans are hardly the only ones corruptible by the Old Ones and their minions. Giants, dragons, trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins can all be corrupted by True Chaos. Such creatures should possess strange, unusual, and terrifying powers. If using Realms of Crawling Chaos, Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5E, or another Mythos source, you should also feel free to add in more proper Mythos creatures, though do so lightly, if you wish to maintain the High Fantasy veneer on the setting.

And then there are the Cults, which bring corruption on a societal as well as individual basis. Rare among the Continentals, these cults are de rigueur among the Morlocks, far too common among the Cavemen, Gray Folk, and Trolls, and only moderately less so among the Tribesmen and Kruski. Such cults often disguise themselves as cults of the King of Hell, much as the cults of the King of Hell disguise themselves as the cults of other gods. Only at the last are they revealed to be far more than a mere Hell-bound cult, providing the players a glimpse into the cosmic horror of the Realms of Crawling Chaos…

[Now Available] The Tavern from Hell Module for Labyrinth Lord

The Tavern from Hell

By James Mishler & Jodi Moran-Mishler

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord

The Tavern from Hell is a Labyrinth Lord adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 1st to 3rd level.

A local tavern, known as a hive of scum and villainy, has fallen under the powerful curse of an angry wizard. The locals and the heirs of the taverner are offering an exorbitant sum for adventurers to go in and perform the needful actions to lift the curse.

It is a LOT of money. And the adventurers get to keep all the treasure they find in the tavern. And the local authorities have even suspended their usual taxes on treasure.

Too good to be true?

As a down-on-your-luck adventurer, you are probably too poor to care…

Designed for use with Labyrinth Lord, easily adaptable to any Old School RPG system.

16 pages, 12 pages of ADVENTURE! $3.00 CHEAP!

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[Now Available] Centaur Race

Centaur Race
Designed for Labyrinth Lord
By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler

This booklet contains all the information you need to create a centaur player character for Labyrinth Lord or Advanced Labyrinth Lord (and is easily adaptable to other OSR systems). Details include both a centaur race and a centaur racial class, as well as information on creating centaur bands and camps.

 

12 pages (6 pages of material), $1 – CHEAP!

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[Now Available] The Incompleat Olden Lands

The Incompleat Olden Lands

By James Mishler with Jodi Moran-Mishler

 

Nine years late and more than a few details short, here finally is the Incompleat Olden Lands, the gazetteer of my first new world.

 

Boy howdy, did I learn a few things NOT to do with building worlds with this one. Lessons that were still not learned for a time; took a while for the lesson to take, so to speak. Biggest lesson – start small, not big! Too much, too many details, too many things to juggle in the design and development eventually bogs you down and burns you out.

 

I got a good bit along with this one. Maybe three-fifths of the way, perhaps somewhat more, from a glance. Some sections are mostly done; other sections are skeletal, and some are in-between.

 

THIS PRODUCT IS INCOMPLETE AND DOES NOT DETAIL THE ENTIRETY OF THE OLDEN LANDS!

 

The Incompleat Olden Lands includes the following sections, some more complete than others:

 

Humans of the Olden Lands (Complete)

Demi-Humans of the Olden Lands (Complete)

Humanoids of the Olden Lands (Complete)

Languages of the Olden Lands (Complete)

Political Divisions of the Olden Lands (Various levels of completion)

Geography of the Olden Lands (Various levels of completion)

Complete Monster List by Area (Complete)

Complete Resource List by Type (Complete)

Coinage by Realm (Complete)

Titles and Order of Precedence (Very Incomplete)

Gods of the Olden Lands (Incomplete List Only)

 

I must emphasize, THE CAMPAIGN INFORMATION INCLUDED HEREIN IS INCOMPLETE. YOU WILL NEED TO FILL IN MANY DETAILS TO MAKE COMPLETE USE OF THIS CAMPAIGN.

 

The Olden Lands maps are available separately.

 

114 pages (108 containing material), $5.00

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[NOW AVAILABLE] Limited-edition, limited-run copies of James Mishler Games Books

Gary Con XIV has come and gone, and it took me most of two weeks to recover from four days. Whew, what a show!

While it was a busy show, I still have copies of the five special print products I printed for Gary Con. 

These are now for sale, US sales and shipping only.

Each book is priced as listed below. A full set -- one of each book, five books total -- costs $70, including shipping. Shipping is in a medium-sized flat rate box via USPS Priority Mail (tracked and insured for $50).

Books will be shipped bagged and boarded, and with bubble wrap and/or packing peanuts in the box.

If you are only ordering one or two, they can fit in a USPS Priority Mail flat rate envelope; shipping then costs an additional $5 above the total for the one or two books.

The five special, limited-edition, limited-run print products are as follows:

Barbarian, Demi-God, Dragonborn includes the PDFs of the Barbarian Class, the Demi-God Race, and Dragonborn. $10.

Ghosts – The Incorporeal Undead includes the entire manuscript from the PDF. $20.

Hercynian Grimoire #1 (Vol. 1, No. 1) includes the entire manuscript from the PDF. $15.

Myrkridder, Ogres, & Vampires includes the PDFs of Myrkridder – The Demonic Dead, Ogres of the Olden Lands, and Vampires of the Olden Lands. $15.

Quick Start Race & Class Guide includes the entire manuscript from the PDF. $10.

Other than a full-cover cover, these are all in black & white, with no new art or other fancy bits.

There were ever only 41 of each of these printed. The first prints, to test the print, are my personal copies; the first of the 40-print run went to my wife, Jodi, as has always been the case with all my print products; and the second went to Dan Proctor of Goblinoid Games. 

These will NEVER AGAIN be reprinted in this format; in fact, except maybe for Ghosts, they are likely to never be reprinted in ANY format, though I cannot promise that.

Contact me at jamesmishler@gmail.com to order.