200th post spectacular: the big book of B/X classes!

B/X D&D is a beautifully simple, elegantly minimalist masterpiece of RPG design. So what better way to show your appreciation of its grace and clarity than by throwing twenty-two new and totally unplaytested classes into the mix?

A while back, Chris Tamm (of Elfmaids and Octopi) said he'd like to see a book of my classes: so here, in celebration of ATWC's 200th post, I present a free downloadable pdf document containing ALL TWELVE of the B/X classes I've written for the blog over the last year-and-a-half, along with TEN of the classes I've written for ATWC itself, translated out of the weird B/X variant I actually use in my games and back into standard B/X D&D terminology. None of them have been playtested, but I've tried to keep them balanced with the default core classes. if anyone out there does use them in a game, I'd love to hear how it goes!

Aside from The Extras, who really do need a bit of explanation to make any sense at all, I've only included the actual rules information for these classes. If anyone downloads this and then finds themselves wondering what, say, the Sirtya actually are (and why they ride around on clouds by singing to them), then feel free to look up the original posts in the blog archive, all of which present these classes with at least a little bit more context...

I'll get around to that Rise of the Runelords thing later.

So, with no further ado, I present:

The ATWC Book of B/X Classes!

Containing: 

• Angels!
• Blue Folk!
• Brass Men!
• Children of the Pines!
• Clocktopi!
• Deep Ones!
• Disciples of the Word!
• Extras!
• Ghouls!
• Goblins!
• Half-Trolls!
• Inquisitors!
• Mesmerists!
• Noncombatants!
• Orcs!
• Patchwork Girls!
• Renunciates!
• Sandshapers!
• Sirtya!
• Snake people!
• Skaven!
• The Unkindness!

This book truly has something for everyone! Download it! Ruin your B/X campaign today!

These are free and also good

I have something of a weakness for free gaming modules. Whenever I go onto RPGnow to buy something I tend to also come away with a bunch of free pdfs, which build up and build up until I have a great pile of them; then I download them and skim them all in a blur of caves and ruins and dungeons with goblins in them. Most of them aren't that great, but a few really stand out; so I thought I'd flag a few of them up to bring them to other people's attention.

All of these are either freely available or 'pay what you want', at least at time of writing. Get them while you can, because PWYW products have a habit of suddenly acquiring fixed price tags after they get popular...

Dungeon of Signs: Gus L has produced a whole series of excellent adventures in pdf format, freely available on his blog. They're all well worth reading, but 'Prison of the Hated Pretender', 'Along the Road of Tombs', and 'The Dread Machine', are outstanding: dark and atmospheric and powerfully imagined throughout. Just steel yourself for a lot of dead PCs!

The Fungus Forest: It's not going to blow anyone's mind with its sheer originality, but this adventure module is a very solid example of OSR design principles in action: a subterranean forest full of weird factions and weirder individuals, almost all of which can be negotiated or allied with. Could make for several sessions of very enjoyable play.

The Caves of Moreau Country: This dungeon has a random-layout-generation gimmick, but that's honestly the least important thing about it. It's dark and vivid and sad and has some rather nice black and white art. It's also surprisingly faithful to the vision of The Island of Doctor Moreau itself.

Better than Any Man: I still think this is Raggi's best work, and he's giving it away for free. It's Lamentations, so expect cannibalism and dead babies, but if you're not put off by the subject matter then this is a very good example of historical fantasy-horror on a truly epic scale.

The Ruined Hamlet: This is mostly a pastiche of B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, and it's much more 'traditional D&D fantasy' than most of the others I've listed here, but it's done with heart and a pleasing level of attention to detail. Worth a look.

The Mysteries of Hollowfield: This is a series of short adventures set in and around a little woodland town, each of which is written by a different author. Unsurprisingly they're a bit of a mixed bag, but they mostly maintain a suitably creepy, Halloweeny tone, and the haunted house mini-adventure is a great example of using a few simple ideas and images to go a long way.

Madness of the Rat King: A 5th edition adventure, but should be very easy to convert to OSR D&D. This takes a concept which is cliched to the point of absurdity - a level 1 party gets hired to clear out some giant rats from under a tavern - and runs with it to such crazy lengths that it wraps right round into awesome again. By the time the flying rats with eye-beams attack, the cliches have been left a long way behind!

Pdf Phrenzy 2: Pdf Harder

I had a slow morning at work so I made pdf versions of my six recent B/X classes: Deep One Hybrid, Goblin, Half-Troll, Orc, Ghoul-Blooded, and Skaven Engineer. Which would make for a pretty great adventuring party, now I think about it, although the ghoul and the half-troll would constantly be fighting over who got to eat the monsters!

Pdf versions of my first five B/X classes - the Inquisitor, the Mesmerist, the Angel, the Sandsculptor, and the Patchwork Girl - as well as my introductory ATWC adventure, the Tower of Broken Gears, can be found here. Feel free to download or print anything you fancy for personal use...

Deep One Hybrid

Ghoul-Blooded

Goblin

Half-Troll

Orc

Skaven Engineer

PDF PHRENZY

Just doing some experimentation with layout and uploading documents via Google drive. I've knocked together downloadable pdf versions of my five B/X classes, and also of my introductory adventure, 'The Tower of Broken Gears', very slightly altered for ease of compatibility with other old-school D&D variants. If anyone wants them, feel free to download away!

The Angel

The Inquisitor

The Mesmerist

The Patchwork Girl

The Sandsculptor

The Tower of Broken Gears