squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
Spreading the news about Trent's new product. In his own words:
I'm happy to announce that The Heroic Legendarium - the book of 1E rules expansions and modifications I wrote that was previously published in a non-OGL version under a different title and which I have been revising and expanding for the past couple years - is finally re-available, this time in an OGL-compliant OSRIC-branded format (as well as with considerable added content over the old version).
It's currently available in print from Lulu and in pdf from DriveThruRPG (and will eventually be available in print from the latter as well, once I have received and approved the proof copy - the price will be the same as the printed Lulu version but you'll also get the pdf for free).
This book is chock-full of solid gameable new 1E content in the style and flavor of that game's original creator filtered through my 30+ years of experience as a player and GM. Many of the additions and modifications are derived from things the original creator did in his later games or indicated that he intended to do with 1E, but I've also filtered all of that through my own judgment and experiences rather than slavishly followed things he said he might have done. There is also a substantial amount of content that was not derived that way and is original to me, but even that has all been carefully considered and balanced and tested to confirm that it fits both mechanically and stylistically alongside the existing 1E canon in a seamlessly organic manner. If you play 1E in the manner of its original presentation, you're almost guaranteed to find material here that you can slot into your game to expand its scope and horizons (or in some cases to address known issues with the original text) without having to fret about second-order unintended consequences.
The contents of the book include:
4 new PC races (cat-blooded, dhampir, dragon-blooded, half-ogre)
5 new classes (mystic, hunter, savant, mountebank, jester)
redone bard class that starts at level 1 but maintains the feel of the 1E version
notes and revisions to other classes (cavalier, barbarian, acrobat, monk)
expanded secondary characteristics (more detail on appearance, social class, and birth order)
new PC characteristics (knacks & quirks, joss, focused energy activation techniques)
expanded secondary skills info (expanded table + rules for adding new skills or improving existing ones)
expanded equipment table (41 new items + carrying capacity chart & new high and low value coin types)
19 new weapons
over 180 new spells (for mystics, savants, and mountebanks - plus an entire unique set of spell-songs for bards)
revisions and clarifications on psionics and combat procedures
full system for PCs establishing and managing domains
expanded racial preference table including monster-types
random treasure-generation tables for dungeon levels 1-12+
32 new magic items
49 new monsters
revisions to the existing 1E monster stats to resolve discrepancies and fill holes
essays on tips and tricks for players and GMs, dungeon-designing, campaign-building, wilderness and other-planar adventuring, in-town activities, and more
It's 154 pages with no illustrations - just rock-solid, thoroughly playtested, totally practical 1E-compatible game content. If you saw the old version or various previews and draft-versions previously posted on my blog you already have a sense of what's in here, but even if you have there's also dozens of pages of never-before-seen new material.
And it's all branded as OSRIC Reference Content so if you're a publisher you're free to use any and all of it in your OSRIC-compatible products so long as you refer back to this book. 1E is no longer stuck in amber, permanently frozen in 1979 or 1985. With these additions and revisions it is once again the vibrant, living, ever-growing and expanding game it was always meant to be.
If you're a fan of 1E as it was originally conceived, you won't regret this purchase.
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