[NEWS] Castle Xyntillan – Spanish edition Kickstarter // Foundations of Fantasy Roleplaying Games

Castillo Xyntillan!

I am pleased to draw your attention to the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for Castle Xyntillan, or, as we should say, Castillo Xyntillan! The module has been translated into the Spanish by Outremer Ediciones, and statted for Aventuras en La Marca del Este, a Spanish old-school game whose name translates as Adventures in the Eastern Marches. To quote the campaign,

“Xyntillan Castle is a megadungeon for old-school gaming, but not one like any other. Throughout its pages you will discover a strange, terrifying and absurd world, governed by dream logic and the unusual fantasies of the Malévols, the degenerate and decadent family dynasty that runs it.

In its more than 300 rooms you will find all kinds of curious inhabitants and dangerous challenges: talking paintings, murderous furniture, servants more loyal than death, maniacal vampires, forgetful ghosts, masked murderers, torturers in love, ancient curses, dead soldiers, glitter clouds , terrifying beasts and even the most dangerous trap ever devised, the masterpiece of death. However, most of these challenges do not have to be overcome by force of arms: many will be content with a few good words, some politeness, and asking for a favor from time to time.”

The campaign has already met its goal, so it is safe to say it will happen – the manuscript has been translated, laid out and proofread, and Outremer Ediciones has a proven track record delivering other games, including a very nice-looking translation of the Helvéczia boxed set. The physical qualities were great for Helvéczia, and should be the same here. If the campaign hits €8.000, patrons of the physical version will receive the d20 of Victory, and with that name, I am fairly sure you need one of them. Back early and back often!

Foundations of Fantasy Roleplaying Games

In other news, I would also like to draw your interest to a new book series, Foundations of Fantasy Roleplaying Games. Launched by Charybdis Press, this is a series that

“…explores the literature that influenced the modern genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, and the roleplaying games they continue to inspire. The series is dedicated to all the hardworking game masters the world round and hopes these books provide more inspiration for their games. But while this series orients itself towards genre fiction and roleplaying games, it is also for general readers desiring quality copies of public domain works.”

These are, in essence, nicely edited, affordable paperback printings of works in the public domain. The titles chosen for the imprint are a bit further afield from the pulp classics; they come from the corpus of adventure stories which indirectly inspired the pulps, but are fairly obscure to the modern reader. As such, they are a great source of reading material that would, paradoxically, feel both familiar and new. The titles now available mostly include works from the picaresque tradition:

• Three Northern Love Stories, and Other Tales: A collection of mediaeval Icelandic stories, from The Story of Gunnlaug the Worm-Tongue and Raven the Skald to The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Smitten.
• The Life and Adventures of Guzman d’Alfarache: One of the classic Spanish picaresque novels from 1599, featuring the misadventures of a low-class anti-hero in a world of thieves and reprobates. As usual in the genre, it is nominally written as a condemnation of sin, while vicariously revelling in it.
• The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane: The classic 1715 French picaresque story (although one set in Spain), following another young fortune-seeker and social climber. Gil Blas is one of my favourite books; it is fast-paced (the events of the first twenty or thirty pages would make for a full novel in lesser hands), funny, and filled with wisdom.
• Told by the Death’s Head: A 19th-century neo-picaresque by Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai, this is also a personal fave. Originally titled An Infamous Adventurer from the 17th Century, it is the unlikely tale of Hugo, a gunner put on trial for twenty-two crimes (“including bigamy, regicide, uxoricide, sorcery, piracy, Satanism, and cannibalism”), each worthy of execution, but each with a story behind it that makes Hugo the hero of the story. As always, Jókai is a master of the romantic adventure; he is smart (and a bit of a smartass), incisive, and fundamentally good-natured about human foibles. A paragon of patriotic liberalism, and always a man with a story to brighten your day.

[NEWS] Castle Xyntillan in PDF & What Comes Next

Castle Xyntillan

I am pleased to announce the publication of the PDF version for Castle Xyntillan. A 136-page adventure module for 1^st to 6^th level characters, this is a a funhouse megadungeon for the Swords&Wizardry game (and broadly compatible with other old-school systems). The module describes the three massive levels of the eponymous haunted castle inhabited by the remnants of a reclusive and eccentric family, from the soaring tower of the Donjon to the inky depths of the Oubliette (and beyond). Hidden rooms, secret passageways and long-forgotten sub-sections complete a collection of the dangerous and macabre from the gothic imagination – providing ample opportunities for exploration, confrontation, and subterfuge.

Castle Xyntillan has been designed to be versatile, open-ended, complex, and accessible. It is above all, a fantastic place – built on surrealism and dream logic, yet a place which makes a certain amount of sense if you look at it sideways. It should be entertaining, fascinating, and always a bit mysterious. Whether you would like a dungeon for one-off expeditions and convention play, or repeated forays and full campaigns, Castle Xyntillan should suit the demands and particulars of your campaign!

This electronic edition includes the following:

• The PDF version of the module, with cartography by Rob Conley, and illustrations by Peter Mullen, Denis McCarthy, and Stefan Poag.
• GM and player maps of the module, as well as a set of virtual tabletop maps, with helpful setup instructions by cartographer Rob Conley for Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.
• A GM’s Worksheet, used to track time and characters as the company explores the depths of Xyntillan. Adapted from Dungeons and Companies, a Hungarian retro-clone, and designed by Istvan Boldog-Bernad and Andras Szabo, this is a highly useful play aid for dungeon scenarios.

RELEASE NOTE: At this moment, the main document is still a plain PDF, the release expedited to let people under lockdown enjoy the module. An update with improved cross-refefences and functionality shall be released at a hopefully close date.

As always, this electronic edition is provided free of charge to people who have purchased the print issue. (Available again as soon as conditions normalise a little, and international shipping once again becomes feasible.)

* * *

Goings-on

It should come as no surprise that the Bat Plague has put a spoke in everyone’s wheel. Since I had doubts about the reliability of international shipping during global disruption, and did not want to make periodic visits to the post while a quarantine is on (for reasons part safety-based and part ethical), I also closed down my print store for a while. This is not an essential business, and we can wait.

Homage to Catalonia, 1697

This is a time for relaxation, self-reflection, gaming, and background work. We halted our face-to-face campaigns, and started two interim ones online over a combination of Google Hangouts and Roll20. I am a player in Quarantine in San Escobar, a historical fantasy campaign using the Helvéczia rules, and set in a fantastic Catalonia in the Spring of 1697. As it is the way with Helvéczia, there are a few creative liberties involved – historians do not recall the province to have been ruled by a “Prince Franco”, nor have records of the black plague visiting San Escobar, a city close to the Rio Negro (which you might not find on all maps). But surely, the foreboding Moorish dungeons hidden under the dilapidated mansion of the extinct Macabre family; the scandal around the diabolical theft of the staff of Saint John the Reverent (a relic liberated by a mad Basque, who was said to have worked for the Devil himself); the duel where the French bravo Antoine de Castelmorte received a fatal wound; the downfall of the libertine Society of Smoking Poets (whose tower hideout collapsed in a grenade-induced explosion); the machinations of the Italian Auditore Banking House and its sinister enforcer Signor Enzio Conti (whose clandestine activities left a trail of bodies in pursuit of a cache of stolen gemstones); or the altercations at the Golden Ass Tavern (where a Castilian witch was thwarted with the judicious application of Splendid Ludmilla’s Spinaround Spell, and her lackeys driven away by a pack of shadowy hounds nobody had seen clearly), all of these are tales which would haunt the popular imagination. José Emilio Belmonte de Gálvez y Rivera is afoot, and he is now a 3^rd level Student!

The City of Thisium

I have also started a B/X mini-sandbox campaign of my own: in The Four Dooms of Thisium, the Wise Owl, the oracle of the eponymous coastal city-state, has delivered a dire warning of the city’s impeding destruction by the angered gods; and four dooms: one from the forests, one from the mountains, one from the sea, and one from beneath the city. As the Owl would explain, the gods had also prohibited the citizens to try and prevent this fate, or hire or encourage outsiders with present or future rewards – only those who would come to help on their own free will could escape divine wrath, and avert the four dooms in the remaining 90 days. Alas, it would only be on day 45 that a suitable company of adventurers would arrive – and that’s where the players came in. So far, 10 player characters have ventured into and outside Thisium, of whom 5 have met their demise in various ways:

• Solon, Cleric 3, active
• +Snorri, Dwarf 1, dragged off by ghouls in a dark street
• Giacomo, Fighting Man 3, active
• +Thyrsos, Elf 1, ambushed and murdered in the mausoleum of the Vercato family by giant shrews
• +Ignatius, drained by shadows in the lower crypts
• Hawk, Thief 1
• Krandor, Fighting Man 3, active
• +Codilius the Sneaky, Magic-User 1; strangled to death by living roots while trying to clean a forest altar
• +Alonso the Humble, Fighting Man 2; promoted from a lucky footman who had drunk from a font that gave him experience in exchange for increased age, he defeated the chosen champion of the Merchant Lord Mornalt Tamburello in single combat, bedded his daughter Hestia, and – sadly – ended his career in the summer villa of Raniero Galasso, where he was burnt to a crisp by the flaming breath of the idol of PORCULUS, an orcish beast-god.
• Khamir the Enchanter, Magic-User 2

The list of followers is also growing, foreigners recruited from the Pickled Carp Tavern and elsewhere: of the 15 who had joined the party, 5 have died and one retired:

• +Adalberto, light footman (Giacomo), burnt to a crisp by the idol of PORCULUS
• +Bonaventura, light foot (Codilius), killed by the rest of the party under an evil enchantment
• +Sisyphus, servant (Solon), simpleminded but loyal, died to an orcish throwing axe in the summer villa of Raniero Galasso
• Lorenzo, light footman (Giacomo), suspicious hacking cough but a good rear guard
• +Socrates, light footman (Solon), suspicious hacking cough, burnt to a crisp by the idol of PORCULUS
• Septimus, crossbowman (Solon), a dandy
• [Oriflan, heavy horseman] (Krandor), a capable ally, until he was charmed by a rival Elf, and left the party in disgust when they killed his “old friend”
• Ario, crossbowman (Alonso)
• Philippos, light footman (Hawk)
• Theseus, light footman (Hawk), who had his own retainer…
• +Alcino, servant (Theseus), a lock-picker with a set of false keys, he was drained by shadows on the second expedition to the lower crypts
• Adriano Amico, Fighting Man 2, hired from a friendly adventuring party, and capable of holding his own
• Malek, light footman (Khamir)
• Khamid, light footman (Khamir)
• Hector, heavy footman (Giacomo), a dandy & current rear guard

The Coastlands

The company has also made progress: they have stolen a golden harp from the Tomb of Badalamenti; explored the Sacred Grove where the Wise Owl holds council; extracted a great treasure (including a +2 war hammer) from beneath the ruined tower of the mage Harpang with nothing but a few food rations; defeated a rival adventuring company laired in the abandoned countryside villa of the Elerius family; thrown a grand fete where they hosted all of the city-state on a night-long celebration that ended in family tragedy; purchased the wine cellars of the wine merchant Fladevole, and established permanent access to the Thisium Underworld; gained entrance to the Summer Villa of Raniero Galasso (but had to retreat under heavy losses); and converted a band of brigands to the cause of Law, while also looting their considerable treasures. Tomorrow, the adventures continue – the discovery of an underground garden, and other leads offer great treasures and formidable dangers beneath the doomed city!

I hope to publish Thisium when it is finished – I have lately been thinking about the lack of good beginner-level sandbox modules, and how disappointing and limited these offerings tend to be. Thisium aims to be complex, broad, and a combination of dungeoneering, city intrigue, wilderness pointcrawls, and sea adventures – that is, a little bit of everything. It also does not pull punches, whether it comes to grave danger or fabulous treasures – glory and death await in equal measure in The Four Dooms of Thisium!

* * *

Publication Plans

With the ongoing quarantine, I have decided to go ahead and prepare for the post-Bat Plague period. While the consequences are still hard to fathom, and there will be obvious deep changes in the world economy and other areas – some quite long-lasting – I would like to believe gaming will continue to have a place there, and people will continue to have an interest in self-publishing, including my stuff. Accordingly, I have commissioned the reprint of Castle Xyntillan. I was running fairly low on stocks when shipping came to a halt, with 70 out of 500 copies remaining, and based on sale projections, a restock was in order. I decided on this in early February, and while I have closed things down for now, I am putting my money where my mouth is. The print and binding job will be business for my printer (a fellow gamer), a binder’s shop, and later the Post who will ship the printed copies – not their only business, but every little bit helps. I never did my printing in China to do it on the cheap, and I will never do it in China – as long as it is feasible, I will keep it close and friendly, and if it isn’t, I will consider POD options as a last resort. But that would, from my perspective, take away a lot of the magic that makes me love this thing.

In the Shadow of the City-God
(Hungarian edition)

So we will work ahead, and print things as they become ready, to prepare for a reopening. Echoes From Fomalhaut #07 will be the first release after Xyntillan. It is done, proofed (a good idea, as I was mortified to find that one of the adventures was somehow missing a handful of keyed areas), ready for launch except for the cover illustration. Echoes #07 will include a module set in a glacier setting I am really proud of; a two-page mini-scenario involving a forgotten tomb under a cellar; one of the main dungeons from the City of Vultures, which had seen a lot of play over the years; and the description of a secret society, including a smattering of adventure locales you can use in context, or on a piece-by-piece basis. I am also working on the translation of In the Shadow of the City-God, a sinister city adventure by Istvan Boldog-Bernad. This scenario amazed me when I first played it, with its effortless combination of Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, bloody cloak-and-dagger stories from Renaissance short stories, and D&Desque dungeoneering; and when I read the manuscript, with its no-nonsense, effective writing style. This is going to be a lot of stuff in only 32 pages.

After these two, the order of things is still hazy. Baklin, City of the Merchant Princes will be my next large project (and as the main city of the Isle of Erillion, something that could not comfortably fit a single zine issue), but in the meantime, there are two manuscripts that are close to done, and in need of illustrations.

Fight On!

[NEWS] Judgement of the Postal Gods & A Day in Xyntillan (Double Feature)

Oooops

About two weeks after mailing them, copies of Castle Xyntillan are now arriving at various US destinations. That’s part reassuring and part frustrating. Reassuring because, in spite of what my lizard brain tries to tell me, the postal services of the world are not dumping mailed packages right into a flaming ditch filled with ravenous crocodiles. Well, not wilfully, not while laughing, and not en masse, at least. But let me tell you, oh frustrated customer who is still waiting for your promised copy (you know who you are), that I made foolish time estimates on the basis of previously solid shipping times, and the only thing I forgot was to correctly factor in the effects Christmas season would have on postal traffic. “In the end, they may receive their books a day or two later,” I thought. Well, that was optimistic.

In other words, to all those who have not received Castle Xyntillan yet: I am sorry some of you have had to wait longer than promised – and I hope the book you will soon hold in your hands will make the wait worthwhile. May the Postal Gods be gracious, and may thy packages make their saving throws vs. crushing blow!

Also, if you have received your book, I appreciate a confirmation message – puts my mind at ease, and makes these final days of frantic office work before Christmas go smoother.

***

In other Xyntillan-related news, we held an official launch event for the book last Sunday. We organised a whole-day OD&D game in a small, private game club, and played two expeditions’ worth of Xyntillan in a group of seven players and one GM. Ironically, the players were friends who had not actually experienced the module before, at least beyond the odd convention one-shot (the original playtesters will get to play something entirely new and different, as is the way with RPGs).

The following report contains spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.

[MODULE] Castle Xyntillan (NOW AVAILABLE!)

Chocolate coins not included

“The immense, rambling complex of Castle Xyntillan has stood in its mountain valley for many years. Built over several generations, it has now been deserted by its former owners, and left to time and the elements. However, that is not the end of the story, for Xyntillan’s fabulous treasures and Machiavellian deathtraps continue to fascinate the fortune-seekers of a dozen lands – and never mind the ghost stories!” 

I am happy to announce the publication of Castle Xyntillan, a funhouse megadungeon for the Swords&Wizardry game (and broadly compatible with other old-school systems). With cartography by Robert S. Conley, cover art by Peter Mullen, and interior illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Peter Mullen (again) and The Dead Victorians, Xyntillan is a 132-page hardcover describing the three massive levels of the eponymous haunted castle, from the soaring tower of the Donjon to the inky depths of the Oubliette (and beyond). Four map sheets, featuring GM’s and player’s cartography of the labyrinthine complex, chart the passageways and hidden rooms, providing ample opportunities for exploration, confrontation, and subterfuge. Castle Xyntillan has been designed to be versatile, open-ended, complex, and accessible (more detailed thoughts are found in this post). It is above all, a fantastic place – built on surrealism and dream logic, yet a place which makes a certain amount of sense if you look at it sideways. It should be entertaining, fascinating, and always a bit mysterious. Whether you would like a dungeon for one-off expeditions and convention play, or repeated forays and full campaigns, Castle Xyntillan should suit the demands and particulars of your campaign!

The hardcover set (book and four map sheets) sells for $40 plus shipping, and is available from my Bigcartel store. This is a larger and heavier product than the previous zines, and requires a sturdier cardboard envelope. Thus, it has a flat shipping rate of $18 (Europe) and $22 (Worldwide). As before, adding further items to your order does not increase shipping. Shipping times should be 3-7 days for most European destinations, 8-12 days for the US and Canada, and up to two weeks for Australia. (At the time of writing, all orders submitted this week should arrive before Christmas!)

A PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay (early or mid-April). As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive this PDF version free of charge.

Three free downloads are also available for this product:

• A two-page sample describing a section of The Upper Quarters, and showcasing the approach taken in presenting these materials.
• A GM’sWorksheet, used to track time and characters as the company explores the depths of Xyntillan. Adapted from Dungeons and Companies, a Hungarian retro-clone, this is a highly useful play aid for dungeon scenarios.
• A set of blank player maps, ready for printing (if you need spares).

385 out of 500 copies

[NEWS] Castle Xyntillan: Announcement and Preview

Castle Xyntillan (cover by Peter Mullen)

“The immense, rambling complex of Castle Xyntillan has stood in its mountain valley for many years. Built over several generations, it has now been deserted by its former owners, and left to time and the elements. However, that is not the end of the story, for Xyntillan’s fabulous treasures and Machiavellian deathtraps continue to fascinate the fortune-seekers of a dozen lands – and never mind the ghost stories!”

I am happy to announce the (now truly) forthcoming publication of Castle Xyntillan, a funhouse megadungeon for the Swords&Wizardry game. Xyntillan will be a 132-page hardcover, describing the three massive levels of the eponymous haunted castle, from the soaring tower of the Donjon to the inky depths of the Oubliette (and beyond). The module will ship with four map sheets with both GM’s and player’s cartography by Rob Conley, cover art by Peter Mullen (whose work, above, should speak for itself), and interior illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Peter Mullen (again), and The Dead Victorians. The hardcover set should sell for $40 plus shipping, and should be available at the end of November or very early December – allowing ample time for delivery before Christmas. And now, the details!

With Castle Xyntillan, my goal was to create a classic-style megadungeon based on the following design principles:

• Versatility: The dungeon should be suitable for different game groups and play styles. It can make for fun one-off expeditions and convention games, it can be played as its own campaign, or ­it can become the tentpole dungeon of a broader campaign setting. It can be played with permanent groups, or a “West Marches”-style player and character pool. It is designed for levels 1 to 6, but otherwise, anything goes – from smaller parties relying on stealth and infiltration to more hack-and-slash affairs involving a small army of disposable flunkies, Xyntillan should offer a fun experience – at all levels of experience.
• Open-ended exploration: The dungeon should accommodate many different approaches to exploration. Multiple entrances and an open structure built around interconnected sub-levels provide several possible paths through the Castle, including two- and three-dimensional exploration puzzles, hidden sections, and fabulous rewards secreted in secret places. Of course, openness also involves a healthy level of risk management: dangerous areas are not usually cordoned off from nosy characters, and the dungeon is not broken down into neat “levels” of difficulty; rather, it is the players’ responsibility to decide when to push their luck, and when to retreat to safety.
• Open-ended gameplay: Groups (and players) with quite different interests should all find something to their liking. Whether they relish combat or prefer furtive exploration; confront Xyntillan’s denizens with sword and holy water in hand or play them off against each other; go for the choice treasures or seek the castle’s deeper mysteries, it should be possible. Likewise, GMs with different ideas should be able to customise it to their liking with little effort. Nothing is prescribed, but many things are possible – and Castle Xyntillan is a framework that enables and invites experimentation.
• Complexity and interactivity: Rooms should offer many things to discover and mess with. While some are straightforward puzzles or traps, there are many which involve (or benefit from) a bit of lateral thinking and experimentation. They also have a depth that should not be overwhelming in play, but offer opportunities to come up with daring plans and unexpected combinations – especially when the players start leveraging multiple things in different rooms to their advantage.
• Variety of challenges: While it does not pull punches, Xyntillan is not a hardcore killer dungeon – it is deadly, but resourceful groups who think on their feet should do well, and, if things go bad, have opportunities to cut their losses and run to fight another day. Not everyone and everything in Xyntillan is out to get you – or, at least, not immediately. However, those looking for trouble will soon find it.
• Ease of use: The material should be easy to understand and use at the table, and the GM should never be lost in a sea of information. Accordingly, the room key uses a nested bullet point structure, starting from an overview of each room and proceeding towards the finer details and interaction possibilities (a two-page example is provided below). Bolded keywords are used to help navigate the text, which is also carefully cross-referenced for easy navigation. Map slices are placed close to their point of use to reduce page flipping. The map is extensively labelled for ease of use. Finally, the physical book and the accompanying maps are planned to be sturdy and user-friendly. It is printed and bound locally where me and my printer can oversee the production process at every step.
• Surrealism: Xyntillan is founded on dream logic and loose association instead of strict realism or full narrative consistency. It should be entertaining, fascinating, and always a bit mysterious. As a funhouse dungeon, it is full of the improbable – but there is a method to the madness. Likewise, it is not a serious affair, but it is not a “joke module” either – it is intended to be a storehouse of the macabre and whimsical, where the jokes write themselves – there is no background laugh track.

Careful... careful.....

In summary, the goal was not to make the biggest dungeon (a goal I have, frankly, always considered stupid), but one that’s just the right size, comfortable to use, good to handle, and built to last. Castle Xyntillan also has a (perhaps unfair) advantage: in one way or another, I have been working on these materials since 2006, from my sections of a never-published Tegel Manor manuscript to the finalised module, and there has been abundant time to contemplate, revise, add to, remove from, and playtest the adventure. It has been tried in many different contexts, and with many different groups. It has taken a long time, probably more than it is rational to develop a dungeon. It is, in one word, polished. It is, also, that thing I have been rambling about all these years. And I hope you will also find it to your liking.

For now, here is a two-page example from one of the easier-to-find sublevels: Castle Xyntillan Sample (4 MB PDF).

Q&A (Additions)

"Sounds good but I see nothing about factions. I want factions!"
"Xyntillan has no formally spelled out "factions", but it does have the remnants of the eccentric and corrupt Malévol family, who have their own agenda (represented by a global escalation mechanic) and internal disagreements. There are also (very loosely described) outside parties with their own interests in Xyntillan.

It is up to the GM and the players to decide what to do with this, but the emergent potential is there, and some suggestions are offered in the Introduction. During our playtest, reaction rolls and morale played a significant role, and negotiation with the dungeon denizens became an important source of information, shady bargains, and allies of convenience."

"How large is the dungeon?"
"WRT the size of the dungeon, it is large enough to sustain its own campaign, and to feel like you are exploring something substantial. It is large enough to result in emergent complexity, which is a major appeal of megadungeons. But it is limited in the sense that it should not take over your gaming life (something that has frustrated me about other megadungeons), and it is basically built around three large, loosely "levels" (a sprawling ground floor, various upper floors, and a dungeon level - all with more or less hidden sub-sections and plenty of interconnections). I had a second dungeon level under development but scrapped it because it felt too much." 

[ZINE] Catalogue

Echoes From Fomalhaut #08: Welcome to Castle Sullogh

Welcome to Castle Sullogh

A 52-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with cover art by Stefan Poag, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Graphite Prime, and the Dead Victorians. This issue contains...

Yrrtwano’s Repose: The great hunter Lord Yrrtwano sleeps uneasy under the ruined husk of Varorlum Manor – if you dare disturb his rest, his enchanted horn may be yours! Dungeon module for 3rd to 4th level characters, 15 keyed loations.

You Meet in a Tavern…: and then what? Start campaigns with a bang using a tried and true cliché!

Castle Sullogh: A fabled castle reputed to be as old as mankind has lived on the Isle of Erillion (and perhaps older), now ruined but not at all abandoned. Four levels with 55 keyed areas containing challenges for 5th to 9th level characters, including a strange museum created by a famous adventuress, a tower of three powerful witches, and an old mystery. Beware the sullogh!

Thasan: Beyond the City of Vultures: Hex-crawl guide to the strange lands of Thasan surrounding the sinful city, describing its burning wastelands, glittering seas, ruined cities and bizarre phantasms in 103 keyed locations.

Two map sheets: one with a map of Castle Sullogh, one with the lands of Thasan – and a separate sheet with a colour player’s hex map of the Isle of Erillion!

Baklin: Jewel of the Seas

Baklin: Jewel of the Seas

A 72-page setting guide and adventure module for low to mid-level player characters, Baklin: Jewel of the Seas describes a medium-sized merchant city, including its rulers, criminal underworld, establishments, and three-level Undercity. Baklin is meant as both a campaign hub a party can depart from and return to (with numerous hooks for wilderness adventures), and as a complex adventure location of its own. It can be used along with the materials published for the Isle of Erillion mini-setting (Echoes #02–05), or it can double as almost any neutral-aligned port town in your own setting.

In any case, Baklin is meant to be played: it is focused on city intrigue, exploration, and dungeon crawling. Go shopping for great deals in port or at the stores of the reclusive Masters’ Guild; be careful not to fall afoul of the Sea Laws or anger the Knights of Yolanthus Kar; discover what lurks in the Tower of Gulls; and brave the Shrine of Roxana and the Thrones of Judgement!

This is two identical-length modules in one: a city guide with 39 major locations and a dungeon setting with 112 keyed areas, connected and bound together via multiple secret entrances, plot threads, and NPC agendas.

“Oh Baklin, Jewel of the Seas, great gateway of Erillion! Minstrels sing of its wealth and marine power; and of the refinement and taste of its magnates and nobility. Minstrels of all kinds, of course, are prone to grandiloquence; and perhaps Baklin is neither as mighty nor as fair as the ballads claim. And yet, there is reason the minstrels sing so, for Baklin has wealthy patrons, its fleet is not inconsiderable – and are its streets not the loveliest within so many weeks of travel? Indeed, those who brave the high seas often believe so… and they will gladly pay for a song to remember their visit. This booklet presents a complete city supplements describing the streets, personalities, and conflicts of a bustling port town, from the heights of power to the deepest undercellars. In Baklin, all streets lead to adventure – and a single life would not be enough to complete all of them.”

This supplement has been illustrated by Denis McCarthy (who also did the cover), Stefan Poag, Graphite Prime, Jerry Boucher, and the Dead Victorians.

Trail of the Sea Demon

Trail of the Sea Demon

Trail of the Sea Demon is a 32-page collection of three loosely connected weird fantasy scenarios for 3rd to 5th level characters. These mini-adventures revolve around a secretive mystery-religion, and the hidden paths which lead to it in a fantastic, labyrinthine city. They can be inserted into any gloomy fantasy metropolis, and may be smoothly integrated into an ongoing campaign. The three scenarios are:

The House of Rogat Demazien: The mysterious sculptor and magician is out of town, and his house lies unguarded. What treasures and dangers are to be found in the Beggars’ Quarter, and where does it all lead to? 37 keyed areas.

Temple of the Sea Demon: Hidden somewhere in the city, a strange temple awaits. Who will outwit the secretive priests and magical guardians to claim its treasures, and who will risk the wrath of the Sea Demon doing so? 19 keyed areas.

Shadow Court: a true bazaar of the bizarre where shadowy merchants mingle with those looking for exotic wares – and deceit lurks around every corner. Yet why does nobody here speak of the abandoned garden shrine and its nightly visitors? 20 keyed areas, and the strange merchants of Shadow Court are revealed in this module!

“The Temple has stood in an abandoned plaza since time immemorial. It is part of the city, but no known street or alleyway leads to it. Only those who wait for the appointed time can embark on a pilgrimage of shadows and dreams to walk new ways through the silent and dark city. It is said that only a select few know the way except for the fanatical priests who worship the destructive powers of the sea. Those who have sought the Sea Demon’s advice seek it rarely; those who seek its riches have never returned to tell the tale. But now, the city’s past may grant a key to solve an occult mystery… Trail of the Sea Demon is a collection of three short adventures concerning the way to the Sea Demon’s sinister temple, the secrets and perils that await therein, and what may follow afterwards.”

Originally published in Fight On! magazine, these adventures have been revised and expanded based on further play, and presented in an accessible, user-friendly format in the current edition, with new illustrations by Peter Mullen (whose cover is one for the ages), Graphite Prime, Jerry Boucher, and Stefan Poag.

In the Shadow of the City-God

In the Shadow of the
City-God

A 32-page adventure module for 3rd to 4th level player characters, In the Shadow of the City-God combines urban intrigue, cloak-and-dagger action, and dungeon crawling in a single package. Visit Mur, a city-state worshipped and forever constructed by its citizens as a living god, and discover the secrets the scheming noble families do not want you to know. Inspired by Shakespeare and the bloody renaissance authors who had preceded him, Mur is one of the great charismatic locations in fantasy RPGs, and an excellent place to set your own adventures – after you have played this one. Visit Mur’s sights, and descend into three dungeons crisscrossing its convoluted undercity. Also included is The Valley of the Skull, a wilderness adventure taking you to a lost world designed by a mad emperor, and a fold-out player’s map of the city of Mur.

“Mur’s fortunes have been built on tear salt, and merchants from distant lands travel to the city for this healing elixir. There are two tear salt springs in town, owned by two rival patrician families: the Falconi and the Capullo. Mur’s laws forbid open conflict, and like most crimes against citizens, the punishment for breaking the peace is severe: live entombment within the living city’s ever-growing walls! Nevertheless, cloak-and-dagger intrigue always claims new victims, and discord between the two families has now escalated into almost open warfare after the elderly Ercol Falconi’s young wife has disappeared. Time is ticking away, and only a bold company of outsiders can resolve the feuds and discover the masterminds behind it all… under the watchful eyes of the City-God!”

This module by Istvan Boldog-Bernad has been translated into the English, with illustrations by Denis McCarthy (who also did the cover), Stefan Poag, and the Dead Victorians.

Reviews:

Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole: "I’m ending this review early to go pass out. It’s the day after election, I’ve been ignoring all of the news channels and instead drinking."

Echoes From Fomalhaut #07: From Beneath the Glacier

From Beneath
the Glacier

A 40-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with cover art by Matthew Ray, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Graphite Prime and the Dead Victorians. This issue contains...

From Beneath the Glacier: Venture into the ice caves underneath a melting glacier, and discover the source of the nighttime raids on the mountain valleys. Dungeon module for 5th to 7th level characters, 21 keyed loations.

The Hecatomb of Morthevole: Morthevole has skeletons in the basement, and he needs to have them cleared out. Fun side job soon turns into horrible slaughterfest. Mini-dungeon for 2nd to 4th level adventurers (or plucky first-levelers!), 12 keyed locations.

The Tomb of Ali Shulwar: An article presenting one of the major Underworld complexes beneath the City of Vultures. Two entrance levels, three main levels and multiple sub-levels, from the hideouts of fantastic conspiracies to locked-away secrets and an enchanted forest beneath the face of the earth! 4th to 6th level (mostly), 66 keyed areas.

The White Hand: Crime-fighting vigilante organisation or armed thugs carrying out extrajudicial killings? Or something much worse? Look behind the face of this secret society and those who seek to control its every movement in this article.

Review:

Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole: "The preview, at ten pages, shows you sixteen of the glacier rooms as well as the map. It’s a great preview."

Castle Xyntillan

Castle Xyntillan

“The immense, rambling complex of Castle Xyntillan has stood in its mountain valley for many years. Built over several generations, it has now been deserted by its former owners, and left to time and the elements. However, that is not the end of the story, for Xyntillan’s fabulous treasures and Machiavellian deathtraps continue to fascinate the fortune-seekers of a dozen lands – and never mind the ghost stories!”

A 132-page hardcover describing the three massive levels of the eponymous funhouse megadungeon, Castle Xyntillan has been designed for the Swords&Wizardry game, and is suitable for 1st to 6th level characters. Built on surrealism and dream logic, Castle Xyntillan has been designed to be versatile, open-ended, complex, and accessible - and always a bit mysterious. From the soaring tower of the Donjon to the inky depths of the Oubliette (and beyond), this module should provide ample opportunities for exploration, confrontation, and subterfuge. Whether you would like a dungeon for one-off expeditions and convention play, or repeated forays and full campaigns, this book should suit the demands of your campaign!

With cover art by Peter Mullen, and interior illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Peter Mullen (again) and The Dead Victorians, Castle Xyntillan ships with four map sheets featuring GM’s and player’s cartography of the labyrinthine complex (the work of Robert S. Conley).

Reviews:

Grodog, From Kuroth's Quill (part 1, part 2): "Castle Xyntillan is a brilliant product, and it achieves what I wish T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil had turned out to be---a living, breathing large-scale adventuring environment with a distinct flavor of its own that calls out to me to fill it out further!"

James Mishler, Adventures in Gaming: "Castle Xyntillan goes a step beyond mere homage, and creates a new pinnacle from which to measure "Fun-house Dungeons." It is the Ultimate Gothic Fun-house Dungeon; it is an instant classic. It is the kind of game book that you can lose yourself in for hours, as you trace all the interconnected characters and situations presented in the adventure. It is so thorough -- and yet, still so eminently and easily playable -- that one must assume that Gabor Lux discovered some lost classic of Gothic horror and cribbed off of it to create this huge, ruined pile of awesomeness."

Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole: "A perfect OD&D product, with whimsy and wonder without going off in to Funhouse territory."

The Byzantine, Espharel: "The content inside doesn't disappoint. It oozes flavor, and there's no shortage of ideas I've already stolen. Joseph Manola, in the ever-useful post 'Conceptual Density', asks how many actual ideas there are on each page. For my money, Castle Xyntillan maintains a solid rate of at least one per page. (...) The real draw here, especially for analysis, is the layout."

Echoes From Fomalhaut #06: The Gallery of Rising Tombs

The Gallery of Rising Tombs

A 44-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with cover art by Stefan Poag, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and the Dead Victorians. This issue contains...

The Wandering Glade: A wilderness module for (mostly) 4th to 6th level characters, describing an enchanted forest that may be found in different corners of the land, and hides lost treasures and the mysteries of bygone eras. For some, the challenge is getting in… and for some, it is getting out in one piece! 26+13 keyed locations.

The City of Vultures: Visit the decaying metropolis of the City of Vultures, domain of the great Mirvander Khan, where every street conceals a lure for the unwary, and where fabulous wealth and grinding poverty exist side by side! This primer introduces the City and its subjugated rivals, its coterie of gods and mystery cults, its peculiar customs, and the conspiracies which lurk behind the façade of its crumbling buildings.

The Gallery of Rising Tombs: An article presenting one of the four great Underworld complexes beneath the City of Vultures. Three entrance levels and numerous sub-levels combine for dungeoneering over 81 keyed areas; from a seedy caravanserai to the under-temple of the rat god, the domain of a damned warrior yearning for his lost love, and more! Characters level 4 to 6 (but sufficiently open-ended to accommodate greater power differences).

The Armoury: A storehouse of 30 enchanted weapons. Confound your foes with The Sword of Barriers, master the treacherous Axe of Many Runes, or take up the choice of champions, mighty Frogbringer!

Also... a double-sided players' map of the City of Vultures, as well as the arid lands of Thasan!

The Nocturnal Table

The Nocturnal Table

A 60-page game aid dedicated to city-based adventures, lavishly illustrated by Matthew Ray (cover), Peter Mullen, Stefan Poag and Denis McCarthy. This is a game aid designed for regular table use, and formatted to be comfortable and accessible, offering a handy guide to design and run adventure scenarios in a large, sinful city filled with action and intrigue.

“The City is a maze. A labyrinth of alleyways, plazas, shortcuts and hidden thoroughfares, it isn’t any less treacherous to navigate than a dungeon. At least during the day, the worst one can expect is a greedy patrol of guards eager for a shakedown, or a thief in the crowd, ready to make a grab and run for it. At night, the sensible and the timid hurry home and bolt their doors. Ecstatic revellers, madmen, assassins, religious fanatics, thrill-seekers, enigmatic apparitions and tiger-headed opium nightmares prowl the streets. And the guards are still not helping. The Nocturnal Table is a supplement intended to bring you this city by way of an encounter system, random inspiration tables, NPC and monster statistics, as well as a giant nighttime random encounter table, whose three hundred entries can serve as interludes as well as springboards for complicated investigative scenarios and fantastic conspiracies.”

At the core of The Nocturnal Table is a 300-entry table of random encounters and odd events you can run into at night in a busy fantasy metropolis. From a patrol of guards carrying a slain comrade, to a sinister beggar-catcher soliciting the aid of dishonest adventurers, or a skeleton covered in grey ooze, its eyes glittering gemstones shambling towards the party, all the wonder and menace of a city-crawl are at hand. But that is not all. With The Nocturnal Table, you can…

• ...create general encounters with the aid of a comprehensive encounter system…
• …generate merchants selling strange and fantastic goods (as seen in Echoes From Fomalhaut #01)…
• …find out what’s in their pockets…
• …generate local colour on the fly…
• …stock warehouses with exotic goods to plunder…
• …and set up secret meetings and investigation sites!

Guidelines are also offered to re-use the encounters and chart contents for the construction of bizarre plotlines and sinister conspiracies which rule from the shadows… while the City sleeps. All that, and more are at your disposal in… The Nocturnal Table!

Echoes From Fomalhaut #05: The Enchantment of Vashundara

The Enchantment of Vashundara

A 40-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with cover art and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and the Dead Victorians. This issue contains... 

The Enchantment of Vashundara: An otherworldly adventure module for 3rd to 4th level PCs. Explore the fabulous palace of a god in peril, brave its dangers and outwit the invaders who have seized it for their own evil purposes… or die trying. 21 keyed locations. 

The Divided Town of Tirwas: Once an overgrown village governed by communal customs, and now a small town divided among a group of feudal Landlords, Tirwas is a place of perpetual tension. Can it be changed for the good, or can its hidden conflicts be exploited for personal gain? The answer lies in your scenarios, and your players’ decisions. 18 keyed locations. 

Plunder of the Stone Sacks: Formerly a set of communal shelters under the town of Tirwas, now a half-abandoned set of storerooms and a repository of discarded things. A dungeon module for 3rd to 5th level characters, 45 keyed locations. 

All is Well in Sleepy Haven: An idyllic, quiet little coastal town – an ideal springboard for adventures on the high seas, or in the monster-haunted wilderness. Or does something more insidious lurk in this friendly community? Is Sleepy Haven’s peace and quiet a comfortable illusion? You be the Judge. 8 keyed locations.

The Lost Valley of Kishar

The Lost Valley of Kishar

A 32-page adventure module for 6th to 8th level player characters, The Lost Valley of Kishar is a wilderness scenario with multiple mini-dungeons spread out over 28 keyed locations. Venture into a lost world of savage beasts and ancient sorceries – and discover an old mystery from beyond the stars! Whether you have come for the strange fruits of an enchanted tree, in pursuit of a great winged ape, the gold of a lost temple or a magic mirror, glory and death await in equal measure in… The Lost Valley of Kishar!

“Somewhere, only a few days’ travel from a busy trade route, there lies a valley surrounded by untamed wilderness. It is surrounded by cliffs forming the shape a ring, unnaturally steep and tall, as if they had been wrought by human hand. No one remembers who had originally erected the ruins standing within the valley, and who had nurtured the wondrous tree which had once drawn pilgrims from distant lands. Kishar’s priestesses have been long forgotten – but the tree’s blessed radiance persists. As if under an odd compulsion, all manner of beasts have been drawn to the valley, and in time, there emerged others. Those who came from far beyond human imagination, and were already here before the first priestesses…”

This module by Gabor Csomos was originally written for a 2018 adventure writing contest, where it won first place. This edition has been translated into the English, with illustrations by Peter Mullen (who also did the cover), Stefan Poag, and Denis McCarthy.

Reviews:
Edgewise, Artifacts and Relics: "There are a lot of different genre elements that manage to hang together well - winged apes, science fantasy, liches and curses - it's all there. And the organization is tight; Lost Valley gets in and out in 36 pages. It's not dry and it never overstays its welcome, and its all digestible enough for a GM to quickly get the big picture."
Jeremy, OSR News and Reviews: "The Lost Valley of Kishar represents both the best and worst of the OSR. It's clearly a labor of love, but at the same time, also really pretentious, cliched, and overpriced. Most importantly, there's really no legitimate reason for the players to get involved, as there is really no reward, just misery tourism. But that's something much of the OSR seems to love for some reason, so YMMV. "
Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole: "I might liken it to an older Judges Guild product, like Dark Tower. You have to fight the text a little to get the big picture of whats going on and that makes immediate understanding suffer. But, in both cases, the content is worth it. (...) Still, it’s a pretty good lost valley adventure. Lots going on. The setups are understandable, easy for the DM to grok. They interact with each other. It’s got a lot of tough shit running around to overcome. (And may be a little light on the treasure for a 1E game …) It’s also taken the single-column format about as far as it can go. I don’t think you could make some of the encounters any longer and preserve usability. "

Echoes From Fomalhaut #04: Revenge of the Frogs

Revenge of the Frogs

A 40-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with cover art by Matthew Ray, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and Andrew Walter. This issue contains... 

The Technological Table: Destructive futuristic weapons and sinister technological artifacts from Fomalhaut’s fallen utopias and underworld realms. 

Revenge of the Frogs: A wilderness adventure module for 3rd to 5th level PCs. Certain doom awaits the dying port town of Silvash, and its only chance of survival lies in the marshlands, a place of bizarre inhabitants, labyrinthine waterways, and lots and lots of… well, let’s not spoil it. 16 keyed locations.

Arfel: City State of the Charnel God: Dominated by a great temple-complex that forms a vast necropolis, death looms over Arfel like a funereal shroud. Yet beyond the haunts of the veiled priests and the silent palaces of a reclusive aristocracy, the alleyways are busy both day and night, and adventure awaits those who would explore the city’s mysteries. 20 keyed locations.

Erillion, West: an article describing the western half of the Isle of Erillion, from lost places of pilgrimage to brooding manor houses, and lowly bandits’ nests to sites of high wizardry. 

Also... a detailed fold-out players’ map of the City State of Arfel!

Echoes From Fomalhaut #03: Blood, Death, and Tourism

Blood, Death, and Tourism

A 44-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with artwork by Stefan Poag, Denis McCarthy, and more. This issue contains... 

The Great Wheel: A mighty 50’ wheel rolls through the wastelands of Fomalhaut, destroying all in its path, and followed by a ragged host of raiders, fanatics, desperate camp followers and wily opportunists. What purpose drives this great device, and who are its followers? 

Terror on Tridentfish Island: A 3rd to 5th level sword&sorcery module set on a formerly wealthy resort island, dotted with ruined pleasure palaces, enigmatic caverns, and the relics of a bygone age. 17 keyed locations plus two mini-dungeons. 

Monsters of Wizardry: a collection of monsters adapted from the excellent CRPG, Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant. 

Erillion, East: an article describing the eastern half of the Isle of Erillion, from the city of Baklin to the island kingdoms of the Northmen, and from gloomy highlands to enchanted forests. 

Also... a detailed fold-out GM’s map of the Isle of Erillion!

Reviews:
Pookie, Reviews From R'lyeh: "Overall, Echoes From Fomalhaut #03: Blood, Death, and Tourism pulls away from the ‘vanila’ fantasy of previous issue and in doing begins to give the fanzine more of a focus, more of an identity, and more of a reason to want to read future issues. That can only bode well for future issues."

Echoes From Fomalhaut #02: Gont, Nest of Spies

Gont, Nest of Spies

A 44-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with artwork by Denis McCarthy, Matthew J. Finch, Stefan Poag, Andrew Walter and more. This issue contains...

The Four Wives of Xantun: fantasy scenario in the Dreamlands for 2nd to 4th level characters – what haunts the city-state of Hlanith, what does it have to do with lost love, and what is it about those flowers?

A Guide to Erillion: an introduction to the Isle of Erillion, a vanilla fantasy mini-campaign setting.

Eldritch Experiments: what happens when the PCs find an abandoned laboratory and start experimenting?

Does Energy Drain Suck? (and what to do about it)

Gont, Nest of Spies: all is not what it seems in the port town of Gont. Features adventure hooks, 21 keyed locations, treacherous NPCs and a lot of ways to get into trouble.

Down the Smugglers’ Walk: the tunnels and dungeons beneath Gont, and the secrets they harbour. 40 keyed locations from underground fighting rings to gateways to other worlds!

The Swine Lord: a small wilderness scenario for 4th to 6th level characters, featuring a valley with an unwholesome reputation, and those who aren’t bothered by it. 11 keyed locations.

Also... a fold-out players’ map of the Isle of Erillion, and of the town of Gont!

Reviews:
Pookie, Reviews From R'lyeh: "Echoes From Fomalhaut #02: Gont, Nest of Spies is certainly lives up to the author’s aim of it being designed to present ‘good vanilla’, that is, standard fantasy, but with a heart. It presents good material in the main, but it feels just slightly bland, as if there should be stronger hook or reason for a gamer to want to use that material."

The Barbarian King

The Barbarian King

A 20-page adventure module for 4th to 6th level player characters, The Barbarian King pits the company against the ruined empire of the mountain barbarians... and the evil that still slumbers therein! This gloomy wilderness and dungeon scenario features deals with malevolent and ultra-powerful spirits, the burial places of a now defeated people, shadowy hosts and deadly traps. 

First published in 2002 as a standalone mini-module and in 2011 in an expanded version in Fight On! magazine, The Barbarian King has seen quite a lot of play in those sixteen years (and held up rather well at the table). It has been disassembled, reassembled, bootlegged on the DM’s Guild (no kidding) and put back together again. This edition has been re-edited for easy use, and includes illustrations by Matthew Ray (who also did the cover art), Stefan Poag and Denis McCarthy.

Reviews:

• Bryce Lynch (2011 version): "This is a decent adventure; I was pretty happy with it."
• Bryce Lynch (2018 version): "It’s got a GREAT vibe going on, and Gabor takes things just a little bit further than usual for an adventure, thinking about things just enough more to make things make sense. It’s a good adventure."
• Prince of Nothing: "Barbarian King is a module with a feel so classic it should have been written with a typewriter and printed on cheap paper."

Echoes From Fomalhaut #01: Beware the Beekeeper!

Beware the Beekeeper!

A 40-page fanzine featuring adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school RPG rules, with artwork by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and past masters. This issue contains...

Bazaar of the Bizarre: a 1d100 table to generate strange merchants, with caravan guidelines.

The Rules of the Game: sets out the conventions followed in the zine.

The Singing Caverns: a two-level cavern system with 49 keyed areas, inhabited by orcs, bandits, and the mysteries of a bygone age. 2nd to 4th level.

Philtres & Dusts: a sampler of magical potions and dusts.

Red Mound: a mysterious adventure location found in the wastelands.

Morale & Men: a simple, fun set of follower and morale rules, written by two guest-authors.

The Mysterious Manor: the dilapidated manor house of an extinct noble family, now with new occupants... or is there more to it? 23 keyed areas, 2nd to 4th level.

Also... an unkeyed city map! (extra fold-out supplement)

Reviews: 

• Steve C, Google+: "This is a great example of what I love about RPG zines and the DIY OSR community: creator-written and published gaming material with a unique flavor and feel to it."
• Pookie, Reviews From R'lyeh: "In setting out to offer ‘good vanilla’, that is, standard fantasy, but with a heart, the issue has certainly achieved that. (...) Echoes From Fomalhaut #01: Beware the Beekeeper! is an assured first issue whose teething problems will be easy to overcome for the second issue."
• Vorpal Mace: "Don't let the small size fool you: this baby is jam-packed with actually useful articles."
• Ynas Midgard: "Gábor aims for "good vanilla", and it is indeed some very sweet vanilla."
• Bryce Lynch: "Terse writing, interesting encounters and a good map all combine to create a delightful little complex to explore … reminding me more than a bit of Thracia. Could there be a higher compliment?"
• Ben L.: "While I have more nuanced things to say below, the basic message is: it's packed to the gills with fantastic stuff. It has the spirit of the best early Judge's Guild stuff and a quirky sword & sorcery flavor. If you like that sort of thing you would be a fool not to buy it."
• Plus One Longsword: "Echoes From Fomalhaut has a lot to offer those ready to delve into its fun, and unique content. Multiple adventures with a surprising amount of care and consideration put into them, as well as useful tables and great art, this zine rolled a natural 20 for sure. I thought this to be a great first installment to a successful zine."

Yes, there is a downloadable sample!

You can buy these items at my Bigcartel store. They are also sold as PDFs on RPGNow with a delay of a few months.

Please note that your print order also makes you eligible for free PDF copies of your ordered items when they become available (should be a few months after the print edition). PDFs will be delivered via RPGNow to your regular e-mail address, unless you request otherwise.

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I try to ship orders within a few days of receipt. I ship via the Hungarian Post, priority mail (there are no major price differences between priority and regular). As of 2019, I have switched to a flat $6.50 fee for worldwide, and $5.40 for European customers. (See the explanation here.) The most cost-conscious solution is to place order for two to five products at once.

I package every zine in an envelope. For larger orders, I am packing the items in a larger, sturdier envelope. If you’d place a bulk order, we’ll probably need a cardboard box. Based on preliminary test mailings, priority mail takes a few days to reach most European addresses, and approximately 10-12 days to arrive in the USA. If your package arrives damaged, please contact me at beyond.fomalhaut [at] gmail.com with a photo of the damage.

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