r/osr

▲ 154 r/osr+2 crossposts

Crystania RPG2 (TTRPG) [complete translation]

Hello all,

I'm very pleased to announce the translation of Crystania RPG2 is now complete! Together with our previous translation of Crystania RPG, you can now play the Crystania tabletop role-playing game!

Thanks to Reaper and Gilgamesh108 for their help in proofreading, and the latter also with making the tables!

The translation can be found at the Lodoss Wiki fan translation page. If you're interested in printing the fan translation, you may want to use our complete covers. Personally, I like to read these while listening to some LodossCrystaniaLouie the Rune Soldier or Sword World soundtracks, and there happen to be quite a bunch at this YouTube channel!

Also check out the Wiki's X-page for more updates!

u/random_foxx — 14 hours ago
▲ 48 r/osr

OSR Drawing Challenge art by Myke

Art Challenge from a few years back. Drawing prompts(in order) were-Dark Matter Bow, Dank Dungeon Passage, Axe of Doom and Morrloch the War Mage. Cheers!

u/InkStainedHandz — 11 hours ago
▲ 274 r/osr

I released my RPG zine, Sghorbi PLUS and put all its drawings and spot art under CC-BY.

Yesterday I posted about my RPG zine Sghorbi PLUS, but I actually forgot to put all the assets available for download, so I corrected that and now you can find the assets in a separate download, under Creative Commons BY license. Feel free to use them for your works too!

u/Hairic95 — 17 hours ago
▲ 106 r/osr+1 crossposts

An illustration I recently worked on and that I thought would be appreciated here, enjoy this dark scene of some cultist doing cultist stuff on a regular Thursday morning! Don't mind the giant finger-like god coming out from that ancient stone door, it doesn't bite, or so they say...

u/O--R--B — 16 hours ago
▲ 108 r/osr+1 crossposts

Menace's Thief

This is my version of the Thief class for S&W Whitebox. Its not 1 to 1 with Greyhawk and the FMAG inspiration but has just a little bit of both.

Alternatively, if you want to make this more like OD&D's:

Increase Backstab dmg. multiplier by 1 every 4 levels

Attacking unaware targets have a +4 to-hit (in my games I just give advantage)

And give them, upon reaching 10th level, a 5-in-6 chance to use magical scrolls. On a failure the spell turns on them.

Otherwise I hope you guys like this little homebrew I made.

u/ImportanceOk3837 — 17 hours ago
▲ 14 r/osr+1 crossposts

Swords & Wizardry deep dive and why I consider it the best OSR retroclone

I’ve got a new video out where I show some love to Swords & Wizardry and why I consider it the best OSR retroclone.

youtu.be
u/RealmBuilderGuy — 11 hours ago
▲ 88 r/osr

New Illustrations by Tim Molloy

Tim Molloy (@timmmolloyart on Instagram) just sent over an illustration of one of the Crimson Templars from HELLCRAWL. These fanatical knights committed ritual suicide so their souls could descend into Hell and continue an endless crusade against demons and devils.

The project is creeping toward another stretch goal unlock and a new reveal. It’s been wild watching how many people have rallied behind this strange little book.

u/mister_doubleyou — 20 hours ago
▲ 275 r/osr

A newly very special level is developing in Castle Zonreiryd

Today, the mad mage Syd Lonreiro has finished the map of a level he has been working on for several weeks. However, there are still many rooms that do not yet have doors, or secret doors, to access them. It is a special level in the lineage of the most fun and coolest levels of Castle Greyhawk. After pulp science fiction, I wanted another “WTF” level, so I decided to create a level based on the collaborative mythology of the SCP universe.

As in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, there will be firearms, but not blasters, modern guns and explosives instead. The level is a containment site for SCP creatures; some of the most resilient ones are already locked in a small cluster of rooms in the northeast, west of the large dart-shaped hall in the far east.

There is also a large circular room that already serves as an administrative zone in the southwest, with empty offices and plenty of corpses, a surviving staff resistance, and it will likely be the main access point of the level.

I will fill it with SCPs that I will adapt to AD&D/OD&D; some of them may be killed using the means available in the level, mainly firearms. The level is dark and dangerous.

The 10-foot-wide tunnels are circular but have a straight grated floor running through them. The main corridors are hexagonal.

This level is, of course, a mapping and survival challenge for high-level players.

u/SydLonreiro — 1 day ago
▲ 12 r/osr

Session notes as a DM: what do you put in yours?

I try to keep good session notes but I struggle with putting either way too much or way too little. As well as sharing what you do, I'd like to hear how successful you feel your notes are and how happy you are with them.

edit: I mean post-session, not prep

reddit.com
▲ 284 r/osr

What to do with Wights?

If you are running older editions (or their clones) how do you handle Wights? As written, they seem like a hard to kill zombie with a punishingly un-fun level-drain. Low on flavor and likely to piss off players.

I took a stab at making them more distinct by more explicitly linking them to the undead described in Norse & Anglo Saxon sagas. i.e. hard to kill and will track down anyone who takes their treasures.

They can only be permanently killed by a weapon older than they are, otherwise they'll dissolve at 0 HP and reform in their tomb.

What do you do with them?

Credit: Image is my own drawing, but based on a Vance Kelly original

u/deadtreenoshelter — 1 day ago
▲ 49 r/osr+1 crossposts

From Storyteller to the Oracle of Delphi: On Running RPGs Without Controlling the Story

I wrote an essay about how my philosophy of GMing shifted over time from “storytelling” toward something closer to divination.

Instead of treating the GM as an author controlling narrative arcs, I’ve become more interested in using random tables, dice, and world simulation to discover the story alongside the players. The GM as an oracle rather than a writer.

The post talks a lot about Dolmenwood, encounter tables, indifferent worlds, player agency, and why I think victories feel more meaningful when the setting doesn’t bend itself around the protagonists.

Would love to hear how other people approach this style of play.

https://bocoloid.blogspot.com/2026/05/from-storyteller-to-oracle-of-delphi-on.html

u/burd93 — 1 day ago
▲ 23 r/osr

how do you spice quests up?

do you have any methods or creative tricks for coming up with quests that are more interesting than the standard "go kill this guy" or "go find this thing in a goblin den"?

reddit.com
u/conn_r2112 — 1 day ago
▲ 15 r/osr

Crimson Peninsula RELEASED!

Crimson Peninsula RELEASED!

(Note: This personal project was made with The Fantasy Trip RPG in mind but is easily adaptable for GURPS or Dungeon Fantasy)

After 2 years in on-again off-again development and 7 months of dedicated hard-core work, I can say that this is ready for the public! Any comments, typos or whatever, contact me at powercellgames@gmail.com

Download for FREE at DRTPG!

Artwork by 

Anthony Shostak
Bruno Balixa
Christopher Eisert
Daniel Comerci
Rick Hershey
Jack Holliday
Jeshields
Dyson Logos
Henrik Karppinen
Dean Kutha
Russel Marks
Indi Martin
Dan Smith
Dean Spencer
Del Teigeler
Wren Hunter

https://preview.redd.it/442pqp9p4d2h1.png?width=697&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc46d7e35a588d4ab5aae18e8ab70b7ab4050a15

Decades ago, the sea surrounding the Crimson Peninsula negated all magic within it. At first, it was a simple anomaly that was worked around. But over time, it became the catalyst for mounting tension that would affect all within the peninsula. Now, strange forces move along its shores and beneath its waters. Mechanicians who wish to escape the reach of magic are drawn to it, while a coven of sea witches seem untouched by its effects. Illness spreads, rumors of hidden power stir in the mountains, and something deeper connects it all. What was once an inconvenience has become the center of growing conflict.

The Crimson Peninsula is a science-fantasy roleplaying setting. It is based on the adventure Awakening the Ogre and expanded upon by the adventures Sorcerers at Smokewater and Legend of Larksyx. Although designed for the Fantasy Trip RPG, anyone can easily use it with any roleplaying system.

https://preview.redd.it/7kwlwwuf4d2h1.png?width=2087&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbda01319f77cacdc283ba01f35ec79dc4c37fa8

Players can have fantasy adventures along the peninsula, but beneath it lie layers of science-fantasy. Hiding in wait for adventures and clues to come together as the gamemaster sees fit as the players unfold it.

Also included is a new labyrinth system to allow discovery into many underwater caves that have their own flavor of dangers...and rewards for those who dare the deep. These tools enable a new type of hexcrawl campaign for areas where nearby land has already been mapped out.

A simple ship combat system, created outside of any role-playing system, simplifies the process of determining the outcome of battles on the sea yet keeping a story of the battle intact.

https://preview.redd.it/gv34nz5q4d2h1.png?width=1595&format=png&auto=webp&s=abaad4b6800dc0ec4b597189c99c9a7bbb049f40

The Crimson Peninsula has the tools necessary for gamemasters to take their players on a variety of traditional or unconventional adventures to take them outside of routine and rote.

Get the FREE adventures, Sorcerers at Smokewater and Awakening the Ogre that go with this setting!

https://preview.redd.it/me5m7e2i4d2h1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7fcc03f51651a3974bfab95b4fd765d5b640711

reddit.com
u/CastleArchon — 1 day ago
▲ 752 r/osr+2 crossposts

Paper City

The Blacksmith is taking shape, and the forge already burns bright.

u/Lord_Zsezse_Works — 2 days ago