Image of a Beast Hunter from a eldritch-horror, bloodborne inspired Shadowdark setting. The crowd funding campaign is in its last few days.

I am pleased to announce the publication of the fifteenth issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. This is a 64-page zine dedicated to gardening tips and tricks adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for OSRIC and other old-school systems. The cover art was provided by Graphite Prime, and the interiors by Ferenc Fabian, Cameron Hawkey, Jason Blasso, and the Dead Victorians. The current issue features a larger wilderness scenario, a port town, two  smaller articles, and plenty of gardening advice! The following materials are included:

• The Hanging Gardens of Pasquino Babilonio (levels 4–6, 32 keyed areas), a large wilderness scenario set in a mysterious hanging garden left behind from the late days of the Empire. A masterwork of garden design, this place is more than it seems, and hides a long-lost secret which reveals Pasquino Babilonio’s true design.
• Pellagris, Port of Plenty (35 keyed areas). A pleasant coastal town on the borders of fair Frabotia, Pellagris has survived centuries of turmoil without much destruction. An orderly mafia town and noble resort, it is a fine place to rest and plan new adventures – but there is enough local intrigue to keep a group occupied or send them on far-flung adventures.
• Significant Ships: A collection of 20 ships to be encountered in port, or on the high seas.
• The Garden of Punches (levels 2–4, 9+18 keyed areas), a fighting school which has taken over an abandoned village. What conflict lurks among the school’s pugilists? What is the secret of the old lighthouse? And what can we learn about gardening in this place? Find out HERE!
• The Illustrious Index of Incline: A catalogue of Echoes #01 to #15.
• Two foldout map sheets with player and GM maps.

The print version of the zine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

Gamemaster’s Guidelines Preview

I am also happy to note that Gamemaster’s Guidelines Beyond Fomalhaut, my gamemastering reference book, is going to print, and should be available in October. For your interest, an announcement and a preview of the dungeon design section is available on my blog.

For anyone looking for a rules-lite version of B/X that doesnt ditch abilities, saves, or classes.

When a gallon of water weighs more than a sword.

https://rustygatepress.substack.com/p/hunting-foraging-and-water

https://chriskind.substack.com/p/path-of-the-dragon-crusader

This is a map from the newsletter Map Libs. Each month a clean, isometric, one page dungeon map is posted and the subscribers have 15 days to submit ideas for what those blanks should be. One submission is chosen and the information is integrated into the final map before it is posted in the next months newsletter. We try and keep it system agnostic and reasonably un-raunchy. Come and join the fun for free!

What do Spider-Man, the MCU, Wizards of the Coast, and Dungeons & Dragons have in common? Everything.

https://youtu.be/VIhy2LevvwY

New on the blog - I watched the anime adaptation of _Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End_. With its focus on dungeon delving - with multiple applications of practical dungeoneering example and advice - alongside its alignment of party role dynamics, it is surprisingly OSR.

Full review here:

https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/2026/08/frieren-beyond-journeys-end.html

If you have ever played an OSR game, you would know that combat and exploration can often result in a beloved character's untimely demise at the hands of a pit of spikes or an armless goblin. Tactics for battles and combat rarely seem to help when the preferable answer is always to run away; oftentimes, combat doesn't grant EXP or anything useful.

After my personal experience with OSR games, I understand that the system that those games use can turn off a lot of new players, thus I am attempting to make a middle ground between modern-TTRPG's and OSR-style games: Red Mountain.

Red Mountain is an attempting at creating a game that can be equally split with Combat, Exploration, and Roleplay. Character classes have much more options for combat, as well as new explorational spells and abilities that can be used to defeat the aformentioned armless goblins or circumvent the pit of spikes, but without compromising the risk of being unprepared in exploration or combat.

Although it is certainly in development, I still need a community or a reader to give advice on what to add next while I'm still in the playtesting stage. I currently have a free document of the rules, a small cheat sheet, and a character sheet available for free to download on my Itch io page. I'd ask you to check it out, and give me some feedback on the current systems. It might looks ugly for now (I'm not quite a graphic designer!) but we'll get to the looks phase sooner when we have a finalized copy of the rules.

Please check us out or give us a read on our Itch io page at: https://red-mountain-ttrpg.itch.io/red-mountain-ttrpg

How do you coach and entice players to take the initiative and pursue their own goals and drive campaign sessions?

New on the podcast - cultivating emergent play and in-character ambitions:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/0lDwgb7Bzuw

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6R9uJQe4ZbyOeXwILGR8eJ

Hey guys, my new adventure, Escape From Zombie Island, is now in pre-release over on Kickstarter.

Escape From Zombie Island is a survival‑horror adventure designed for 4–6 characters of levels 3–5 and written for use with AD&D 2E, 5E, and Shadowdark RPG.

Explore the island of Gravatos and uncover its dark, archaic past as you investigate the undead plague consuming the land. With over 17 locations, including cave systems, dungeons, villages, ancient ruins, and a large town and a host of new and reinterpreted undead creatures to encounter, will you escape from Zombie Island, or are you brave enough to thwart the evil plans behind the undead hordes?

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gravityrealms/excape-from-zomebie-island