Bundle for Beirut! [BUNDLE] at DriveThruRPG

 AAW Games is sponsoring a BUNDLE FOR BEIRUT! [BUNDLE] to support Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontiers.  

All proceeds are going to aid the people affected by the explosion in Beruit. 

I have two books in the bundle, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition and The Witch for Swords & Wizardry White Box.

While getting two of my books is a small deal, there is over $230.00 worth of books in this bundle all for just $30.00.  That's a good deal and it goes to a good cause.  Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontiers is one of the charities I support often.

Eldritch Witchery on Sale! Mara Review! Night Shift PDF!

Pretty busy and exciting times around here.  Let's get started.

Up first I have a Pomo Code for you to get my Eldritch Witchery at 50% off from Elf Lair Games to celebrate the PDF release of NIGHT SHIFT: VETERANS OF THE SUPERNATURAL WARS.
(until July 31, 2020).

You can use Eldritch Witchery with any of my other Witch books AND it can be used with NIGHT SHIFT as well.

In Eldritch Witchery I introduce the demonic families of the Lilim (a race I used back in the 2nd Ed AD&D days), the Calabim, the Shedim, and the powerful Baalseraph. 

Eldritch Witchery uses Elf Lair Games O.R.C.S. while NIGHT SHIFT uses the more advanced O.G.R.E.S. but translation between the two is easy.   In fact, the demons, devils, and fiends of my "Night Worlds", in particular, my Ordinary World, uses the same demonic classifications.  So grab a demon from here to use in NIGHT SHIFT!
PLUS you can use all the spells from EW in NIGHT SHIFT to really increase the number of spells you have for your magic characters.

If Demons and Witches are your thing then also check out this review of my Daughters of Darkness: the Mara Witch Tradition, from the Reviews from R'lyeh.

This book also goes into more detail about the Lilim Demons. 

Both books feature Lilith on the cover too. 

I might need to spend more time with the demons.

The OSE Warlock, In Print

I interrupt BECMI Week to give you something decidedly B/X.

It took a bit, but now you can get The Warlock for Old-School Essentials in print, both in hard-cover and soft-cover!

I am very pleased with how they came out and they look fantastic.

The contents of both versions are the same, so no need to worry about which one to get.

They look great with the Old-School Essentials books.

The hard-cover even fits into your OSE box!

It is 100% compatible with my Swords & Wizardry Warlock book.  Combine them for even more warlock powers, pacts and spells.

Or combine it with my Craft of the Wise Witch Book for Old-School Essentials for even more spells.

It is the latest, but not yet the last, of the books in my Basic-Era Games line of Witchcraft traditions.

Back to BECMI posts later today.

New Release: The Warlock for Old-School Essentials

Once again evil witches gather to celebrate Walpurgis Night and good witches celebrate Beltane.

And once again the Warlocks join the festivities.

The Warlock for Old-School Essentials

Mine is the Power!

Power. Humans have always sought it.
Clerics pray for it. Wizards study for it.

Warlocks take it.

Introducing the Warlock class for your Old-School RPGs.

- Four new warlock pacts: Chaos, Cosmic, Death, and Dragon.
- 78 Warlock spells including Cantrips
- 13 new spells for clerics, druids, illusionists, and magic-users each.
- 55 Warlock Invocations, the ultimate expression of their power!
- Magic items and warlock patrons.

Fully compatible with Old-School Essentials and other Basic-Era Games.
Fully compatible with other witch and warlock books from The Other Side.

Requires Old-School Essential Core Rules.

Cover Art by Conner Meek.  Some interior art by Jeff Dee.

POD version on the way.

This book is 100% compatible with The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition also for Old-School Essentials. In fact it is written so warlocks can use witch spells (up to 5th level) and witches can use warlock spells.   The two groups of classes are also natural antagonists for each other.

This book is also 95%(*) compatible with The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry. 
Both warlock books feature pacts, invocations, spells, and lodges.  There is some minor overlap (invocations like Arcane Blast, some spells) but otherwise, each book adds to the other.  Expand the warlocks spell list and invocations.

Which Witch is Which? Basic Era Edition

A while back I did a post, Which Witch is Which? Swords & Wizardry Edition in which I broke down all the various S&W witch books I had done.  What each contained and what they covered.

I have since done a few more books and that question is being asked again.  Since my goal here is to get you to buy the one book you really want instead of three or four you might like.

Let's break them all down.

Let's start with my first Witch book.

The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games
This book is designed with the "Basic" rules in mind.  So Holmes, Moldvay, or Mentzer or them modern clones like Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord.  Largely compatible with my Swords & Wizardry line.  In includes:

• The Witch Class, levels 1 to 36
• Six Traditions (Aquarian, Classical, Faerie, Family, Maleficia and Eclectic)
• Cantrips for witches
• 381 New Spells, 20 New Witch Rituals
• 29 Monsters
• Magic items
• 120 pages

This book is the most basic of the Basic witches.  If you don't know which book to get, get this one.

Then I opted to do other books.

Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games
This book is designed for the Labyrinth Lord game.
The witches of this book are from the Mara Tradition, witches dedicated to the Dark Mother.

• Levels 1 to 20
• Spell bonuses for high Charisma
• Level limits for Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Half-orc and Halfling witches
• The Daughters of Darkness coven
• 175 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
• 39 Monsters to challenge or be allies including the Lilim demon race.
• 3 Non-player characters. 
• “Bloody” Mary Worth
• Darlessa, The Queen of Vampires 
• Lilith, Queen and Mother of all Lilim
• 80 pages. 

If you like your witches evil, have powers to seduce people, summon demons or raise undead then this is your book.

Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games
This book is designed for the Blueholme Prentice Rules game.
The witches of this book are a revised version of the Amazon Tradition, witches associated witht he Amazons and Diana.

• Levels 1 to 20
• The witch class and two new witch covens
• 40 Spells and 8 Rituals for witch characters
• 26 Pages.

If you want to play an Amazon witch, then this is your book.  This book is also FREE, so grab it anyway.

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games
This book is designed for the Blueholme Journeymanne Rules game.
The witches of this book are a revised version of the Classical Tradition, some of the first witches the world has known.  Witches from the ancient time of myths and legends.

• Levels 1 to 20
• The witch class and four new combination classes, using Blueholme rules
• Witch-Cleric, Witch-Fighter, Witch-Thief, Witch-Magic User
• Guidelines for playing any species of witch
• Six witch covens of the Classical Tradition
• 120 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
• 25 Monsters to challenge or be allies
• 29 magic items and six artifacts
• Three Non-player character witches from pages of mythology
• Circe
• Medea
• Medusa
• 84 pages.

If you want to play witches from a Greek, Roman or Egyptian background then this is your book.

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition
This book is designed for the Labyrinth Lord game.
The witches of this book are from the Pumpkin Spice Tradition. A somewhat silly origin that led to one of my favorite traditions.

• Levels 1 to 20
• Spell bonuses for high Charisma
• Level limits for Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Half-orc and Halfling witches
• The Sisterhood coven
• 122 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
• New magic items including magic cauldrons, masks, and tea. Plus the magic item black market
• 24 Monsters
• 3 Non-player characters
• Becky
• Karen
• Carol
• 64 Pages.

If you want to play a "Hollywood" style witch or a witch with some unique spells then this is your book.

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition

This book is designed for the Old-School Essentials game.  

The witches of this book are members of the Craft of the Wise, the Pagan tradition of northern Europe.

• Levels 1 to 14
• The Bándrui and Followers of Aradia covens
• Cowans, the champions of the witch
• 100 Spells and Rituals for witch and non-witch characters
• 28 Monsters to challenge or be allies
• 4 Non-player characters
• Bodhmal
• Liath Luchara
• Alice Kyteler
• Morgane le Fey
• 66 Pages.

If you want to play a pagan witch or a follower of "the Old Ways", then this is the book for you.

All the books are pretty much inter-compatible.  The witches all use the same XP, to hit and saving throw tables.  Sometimes there are differences between what level the witch goes to or what species can become witches, but that is also something that can be worked out in your games.

If you want to mix and match Basic-Era and Swords & Wizardry that is also fine and will work well.

So let's say you want a Basic-era Tiefling Winter Witch.  Or you want to play a Pagan Witch to level 20? You just get the books with those and mix as you like.

Now if you are curious about what is in each book, well the preview on DriveThru covers the first few pages including the table of contents.  But sometimes you want more details.

So here is a break down of all 1,060 spells I have used and 229 monsters.

Witch Books - Google Sheets



I hope this helps you make a good choice!

I have a couple more I want to do.  One is a book on High Witchcraft (Ceremonial) and then either a Demonic witch or a Blood magic witch.

Happy Friday the 13th! Slashers & Survivors - Slashcan Edition

It's Friday the 13th! You know that is like a holiday around here.

What better way to celebrate than a new game from my friend Justin Issac?

Slashers & Survivors - Slashcan Edition

From DriveThruRPG:

Slashers & Survivors: Slashcan Edition is an ashcan version of the our new slasher rpg. Based on The Blackest of Deaths by Bloat Games, the game allows you to create a nerd, jock, or other slasher staple and see if you can outwit and survive a homicidal maniac or deadly cult. This is not the final version of the game and the pdf will be updated periodically with feedback recieved. There will be a deluxe version of the game coming to Kickstarter later this year with more content.

I grabbed it and it is fun.

It is PayWhatYouWant, but do throw money at it. 

Class Struggles: The New* Basic Classes

2019 was the start of my Back to Basics theme here at the Other Side.  I have covered a LOT of Basic-era/BX/BECMI/RC type products.  It got me thinking. In addition to the the base four human classes and three demi-human classes how many classes have been added to Basic D&D?

Answer. 113*
This includes at least four kinds of Barbarians, Bards and Paladins.  Three types of Rangers and Gnomes and duplicates of many others such as necromancers and illusionists.
*There are likely even more.

I am not sure if all of these are needed, but I am glad they are here.  Variety is the spice of life after all and these classes are all about variety.

The trick now is, can they all be played in same world? OR maybe a better question.  Is anything missing?

Basic Classes
Cleric, Fighter, Magic-user, Thief, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling

ACKS Player's Companion
Anti-paladin, Barbarian, Dwarven Delver, Dwarven Fury, Dwarven Machinist, Elven Courtier, Elven Enchanter, Elven Ranger, Gnomish Trickster, Mystic, Nobiran Wonderworker, Paladin, Priestess, Shaman, Thrassian Gladiator, Venturer, Warlock, Witch, and Zaharan Ruinguard.

Advanced Labyrinth Lord
Assassin, Druid, Illusionist, Monk, Paladin, Ranger

OSE (Advanced)
Acrobat, Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Drow, Druid, Duergar, Gnome, Half-elf, Illusionist, Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Svirfneblin

BX RPG
Druid, Gnome, Half-elf, Monk, Necromancer, Paladin, Ranger

Mazes & Perils Deluxe Edition
Enchanter, Shaman

Psionics Handbook
Monk, Mystic

Class Compendium
Acrobat, Alienist, Angel, Automation, Bandit, Barbarian, Bard, Berserker, Bounty Hunter, Burglar, Commander, Cultist, Damphir, Dark Elf, Death Knight, Dragon, Dragon Slayer, Eidolon, Explorer, Fairy, Familiar, Feast Master, Fortune Teller, Friar, Gladiator, Goblin, Greensinger, Half-Elf, Half-Ogre, Half-Orc, Huckster, Inquisitor, Investigator, Knight, Lost Boy, Lucky Fool, Metaphysician, Pirate, Raging Slayer, Rune-Smith, Samurai, Shootist, Sword Master, Sylvan Elf, Tavern Singer, Thopian Gnome, Treant, Undead Slayer, Wanderer, Warchanter, Watchman, Wild Wizard (That's 52 classes!)

The Complete B/X Adventurer
Acrobat, Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Centaur, Duelist, Gnome, Mountebank, Mystic, Ogre-Kin, Scout, Summoner, Tattoo Mage, Witch, Witch Hunter.

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
Cleric, Wizard, Elven Swordmage, Elven Warder, Enchanter, Fleshcrafter, Healer, Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Necromancer, Pact-Bound, Theurge, the Unseen.

Odysseys & Overlords 
Bard

Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition
Elementalist, Necromancer, Vivimancer

Class Catalog for B/X Essentials
Aasimar, Dragonborn, Dwarven Priest, Dwarven Thief, Elven Rogue, Gnome, Halfling Burglar, Half-Orc, Pixie, Tiefling

Große Gott! It's Krampus Night!

Tonight is Krampusnacht or Krampus Night.

So it would be a great time to grab a copy of my Krampus PDFs.

You can get it for 5th Edition or Basic/OSR games.

• Krampus, The Christmas Demon for 5th Era Games
• Krampus, The Christmas Demon for Basic Era Games

They are Pay What You Want, so have fun!

Because let's be honest.  Nothing say's Holiday Cheer quite like a demon put kids in a sack and whipping them.

I already feel more festive! Where's my Egg Nog?

Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales for the Other Side

Been out of town for most of the week enjoying some time with my family, so I nearly missed this.

Thanksgiving Weekend Sale at DriveThruRPG

I have a lot of titles on sale for the next few hours.

Some of my Basic-era books,

• The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition
• The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games
• Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games

And a few of my Swords & Wizardry books,

• The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry
• The Winter Witch for Swords & Wizardry

Grab them while you can!

New in Print: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition

It's a little later than I wanted, but just in time for Thanksgiving!

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is now available in print on demand.

And if you act right now you can grab it for just $9.00 with DriveThruRPG's Thanksgiving weekend sale.

The cover ended up printing a little lighter than I expected, but not enough to make me want to go back and redo it.

The book look great and makes a nice addition to my recent series of Basic-era Witch books.

It also works great with your "Pumpkin Spice Flavored" adventures.

I hope you enjoy it.

Up next...The Pagan Witch for this:

Tis the Season

Well, Trick or Treating is nearly done here and there is only four hours left of Halloween.

If you want to grab the 2019 Pumpkin Spice Edition of Advanced Labyrinth Lord you had best do it now.  It also looks really nice with my Pumpkin Spice Witch.

Hey, they look so good you should grab them both!

New Release: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition

Samhain Blessings!
Autumn.

A time of change, a liminal time between times. A time for warm sweaters, pumpkin spice, and witchcraft!

Introducing the Pumpkin Spice Tradition, witches dedicated to this time.

- The Sisterhood coven
- 122 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
- New magic items including magic cauldrons, masks, and tea. Plus the magic item black market
- 3 Non-player characters to challenge or aid the mightiest characters

Fully compatible with Labyrinth Lord^TM and other Basic-Era games.
(But pairs nicely with Advanced Labyrinth Lord Pumpkin Spice 2019 Edition)

Fully compatible with other witch books from The Other Side.

Available Now!

Halloween Sales at DrivethruRPG

It's that time of year again!  DrivethruRPG is holding its annual Halloween Sales!

I have a few books up for the Spookiest Season!  And I have Witches, Vampires, Demons, Werewolves, and Ghosts!

One of my newest books, The Classical Witch Tradition for Basic-era Games.

It's companion the Mara Witch Tradition.

My pride and joy, Ghosts of Albion!

Another "Basic Era" book, this time Werewolves as a Playable Race/Class.

And for those that love Swords & Wizardry White Box, The White Witch Tradition.

Check these and many other titles out till Halloween!

Kickstart Your Weekend: Night Shift

Ok a little self-promotion here, but I am pretty excited about this one.

Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars RPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/294629699/night-shift-veterans-of-the-supernatural-wars-rpg?ref=theotherside

First the Kickstarter sales blurb from my co-author Jason Vey:

So folks, to coincide with Halloween, I will be Kickstarting the newest core RPG from Elf Lair Games this October! I'm still working out the exact details (getting quotes for printing costs in particular) so I know what to set my goal, but it's planned as a hardcover B&W release. Please spread the word and keep your eyes out! Here's some more about the game:

NIGHT SHIFT: VETERANS OF THE SUPERNATURAL WARS Debuting the new Elf Lair Games house system, O.G.R.E.S., Night Shift is an urban fantasy, horror, and dark modern supernatural game that uses a brand new system of old-school mechanics inspired by and derived from the original, basic, expert, and advanced versions of the World's Most Famous Role Playing Game. It allows you to mimic all the tropes of just about any film, TV series, or novels you like.

All of the following are possible with Night Shift:

• Cheerleaders that are chosen to slay vampires
• Sisters imbued with the power of chosen witches
• Worlds where Fae of all manner battle in the politics of light and dark
• The great-grandniece of a famous gunslinger inherits the legacy of the demon hunter.
• A world where two brothers armed with knowledge and weapons hunt the supernatural in their father's name
• And more!

Excited? I sure am!!

This game came about through long collaboration with Jason and I.  We met while working at Eden Studios together.  Jason was doing a lot of work on All Flesh Must Be Eaten, the zombie horror game.  I worked on WitchCraft and Armageddon.  We both worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.  Over the years we collaborated on other games.  He was a playtester and contributor to Ghosts of Albion.  I contributed to his AFMBE and later Amazing Adventures books.

We both hit the OSR scene at the same time in 2007 and he wrote Spellcraft & Swordplay.  I wrote my first Witch book and Eldritch Witchery for his Elf Lair Games label.

Night Shift combines a lot of different ideas we have had over the years. 

First, we are developing an advanced version of the in-house O.R.C.S. game system (O.G.R.E.S.) that captures the old-school rules we both love with some (minor) modern advances.  Though you can still play Night Shift with any OSR product with no issues.

Secondly, we are also bringing several different "Night Worlds" to your game play.  I don't want to give out any spoilers, but these "worlds" represent several decades worth of play.  I will spoil one or two.  One of my Night Worlds is "Ordinary World" which I have talked about here before and the other is "Generation HEX."   If you dig through my archives here you will also see mention of "Daughters of Death" that might come later.

Finally, I wanted to create something that in the eloquent words of my friend Robert Black called "filling a Buffy-shaped hole in my life".  I have worked on a LOT of really great games and properties over the last 25 years.  Some of that material I can use, most I can't.  But that is fine, I have had years to learn what I like and what I want in a Modern Supernatural Horror game. 

Over the years we have also shared our love for the Modern Supernatural genre in TV shows and books.  Obviously, we were both Buffy and X-Files fans. Jason turned me on to Lost Girl and the books of Kelley Armstrong.  I recommended the books of  Kim Harrison and the TV shows HƎX and Charmed.  Between the two of us, we have worked on several score horror games and played many more. We have a lot of opinions.

Night Shift is the result of all of that.

So expect some more posting on this all month.

Up next?  My sons are going to play two bothers (naturally!) who drive across the country stopping supernatural monsters with nothing but their wits and a trunk full of guns and rock salt.  If they choose the names "Sam" and "Dean"...well that is just a coincidence. ;)

Children of the Gods The Classical Witch Tradition POD is Live!

This one took WAY longer than it should have, but now I finally worked out all the issues and can announce that the Print on Demand version of  The Children of the Gods The Classical Witch Tradition book for Basic Era Games is now live!

Designed for the BLUEHOLME™ Journeymanne Rules this new book explores:

• The witch class and four new combination classes
• Guidelines for playing any species of witch
• Six witch covens of the Classical Tradition
• 120 Spells and Rituals for witch characters
• 24 Monsters to challenge or be allies
• 29 magic items and six artifacts
•  Three Non-player character witches from pages of mythology

It is a companion to my Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games.  Designed to be used with the BLUEHOLME™ Prentice Rules.

I don't have a Print on Demand version of The Cult of Diana yet.  Similar issues.  If you want one those, let me know!

All of these books are part of my "Back to Basic" series I have been doing all year.

Each one is designed to cover a particular Witchcraft Tradition and to also take advantage of the rules presented in each of the respective Basic Era retro-clone.

Here are the books so far.

• The Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch Tradition for Labyrinth Lord
• The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch Tradition for Blueholme, Journeymanne Rules
• The Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch Tradition for Blueholme, Prentice Rules

and coming soon

• The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Tradition for Old School Essentials
• The Basic White Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition for Labyrinth Lord 2019 Pumpkin Spice Edition.
• And one more! (or maybe two).

Update on The Classical Witch

Yesterday I got my 2nd round of proofs back from DriveThruRPG on the Classical Witch POD.

So far the cover looks fantastic!

But some of the interior art doesn't.

I have an idea about what is going on.  I fixed it, but now I still need to wait for another proof to arrive.

Such is the glamorous life of an independent game publisher.

I hope that third time is the charm on this one and the next proof will be fine.