New Releases Tuesday: The Witch Finder Class

 Walpurgis Week continues.  I have a new release for fans of the Old-School Essentials game (and any Basic Era game).

I mean, someone has to keep all these witches in line.

The Witch Finder Class

I have been tinkering with this one for a while now. Finally came together for me while working on my most recent witch book (spoiler, out tomorrow).

From the DriveThruRPG page:

“We are the fire. We are the silence. We are the last prayer between damnation and the soul.”

- Creed of the Order of Saint Ossian.

In a world where magic and witches are real and pose a threat to law, light, and good, there will be Witch Finders.

Inside, you will find:

- The Witch Finder Half-Class for Old-School Essentials (compatible with other Basic-era games).
- New spells for witch finders (and for clerics if you choose).
- New magic items, including the infamous Malleus Maleficarum.
- Two Witch Finder Orders, The Orders of St. Ossian and St. Werper. United in purpose but divided by methods. 

Requires Old-School Essentials Core Rules.

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Classic Classes

I am calling this series "Classic Classes," though some are not "classic" per se, save for how long they have been languishing on my "to be completed" lists. I do not have a projected timeline for them all yet, but I plan on completing the Healer, the Sun-Priest (I just need to give it a new name), and a few more. For now, the plan is only to complete my own unfinished work. 

What is a Half-Class?

The Witch Finder is a "Half-Class" that is it is designed to be used along with another class that is the character's primary class. A quick look at the various Witch Finders and Witch Hunters shows they began as something else and continued that.  Cotton Mather (Salem Witch Trials) was a "cleric" first and foremost. Mathew Hopkins (England) was mostly a charlatan ("thief") and even in modern times Robin Sena, aka Witch Hunter Robin, was also a witch herself. 

So by this logic, I created a "Half-Class" for the Witch Finder. This also helps me preserve some of the flavor of my old 3.x era Witch Finder Prestige Class. 

Will future Classic Classes be Half-Classes? No idea yet, but it will be fun to find out.

Walpurgis *Week*

 Wednesday is Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night (technically Walpurgis Eve), and I have some treats for you all this week starting tomorrow.

By way of toady's fashion statement, a spoiler for the week.

New Releases Tuesday: SRD 5.2

 For what it is worth, Wizards of the Coast has released version 5.2 of the D&D SRD. 

Right now it only comes in Creative Commons versions.

I don't know much about Creative Commons, but I've been using the Open Game License (OGL) since the beginning.  

While I am not going to be doing a lot with D&D 5.5 (or are we calling it 5.2 to match the SRD?) on the sales front, I am very interested in trying my hand at doing some Creative Commons releases.

Many interesting games have been released under Creative Commons, which will soon be joined by the new OSRIC 3rd edition.

The 5.1 SRD under the Creative Commons and Open Gaming Licenses are all still available. 

These are not the only choices. The TTRPG Resources List keeps a massive list of all sorts of things, including SRDs for your games.

This is a good step forward, but WotC has a lot of ground to make up for what they pissed away in the last few years.

New Releases Tuesday: The Swan Maiden Class

 I have a new release for fans of the Old-School Essentials game (and any Basic Era game).

The Swan Maiden Class

Whether you are a fan of Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions," or old Welsh myth and tales of the Gwragedd Annwn, or the Swanmay from AD&D, this is the class for you.

From the DriveThruRPG page.

The swan maiden has appeared in the pages of literature and tales of legend. Many of which were the foundational tales of the Fantasy RPG hobby.  In this new supplement, you can now play as a member of this shapeshifting sorority of protectors of the natural world.

Inside, you will find:

- The Swan Maiden Class for Old-School Essentials (compatible with other Basic-era games).
- New spells for the swan maiden (and for rangers and druids if you choose).
- New magic items, including their fabled Cloak of Feathers.
- Alternate swan maidens including the Gwragedd Annwn, Crane Wives, and the evil Strix.

Requires Old-School Essentials Core Rules.

One and Two-page spreads are offered.

Classic Classes

This class came about while I was going through all of the material I was bequeathed from my late friend and former DM R. Michael Grenda. He had so much unfinished work here that it reminded me of my own oft-mentioned unfinished classes I have. So, I resolved to finish them up this year. This is the first.

I am calling this series "Classic Classes," though some are not "classic" per se, save for how long they have been languishing on my "to be completed" lists. I do not have a projected timeline for them all yet, but I plan on completing the Healer, the Sun-Priest (I just need to give it a new name), and a few more. For now, the plan is only to complete my own unfinished work. Grenda had his reasons for not wanting his published, and I have to respect that. However, some, like the Swan Maiden here, will get pushed up the line because of material of his I have read. 

Though there is a "Classic" in another sense. I have been going through and rereading all the Appendix N works and many of the "Further Reading" mentioned in the D&D Basic book from Tom Moldvay. So, my opinions on what those classes will do will be informed by those readings.

I am most likely to publish these for the Old-School Essentials RPG. I like the rule set, and the levels 1-14 are a nice sweet spot. But I leave myself open to whatever system works the best. 

Most of these classes will be classes I was working on at the same time I first developed my witch class. Some might even have some cross-over, but for the most part they will be non-witch classes.

I could not find the option to list this when I set up the title, so I'll state it here. 

This product has no AI art, and no AI/LLM was used to generate text. 

Why would I need AI to generate more text? I have hundreds of notebooks and files filled with notes. The last thing I need is a new way to generate MORE.